Somewhere along the western coast of Gallahan
The sound of cicadas fills my ears as I make my way through the dense coastal forest. The brushes drag along my leather armor with a familiar scratching sound. Akin to that of a cat asking for food, but in this case… I’m the food. As I continue pushing through the forest in a direction that should take me to the coast itself, I can’t shake the feeling that I don’t exactly belong here anymore.
There’s a clearing right in front of me, that should be it… I carefully make my way towards it, the salty breeze fills my nostrils with more intensity as I get closer to the coast, pushing hard towards the gap in the trees.
- “Well shit…” - I look beyond the sheer cliff I found myself at, wondering… Where did I go wrong? The ocean sprawls out before my eyes, only broken up by the occasional cloud and the long, rocky neck of a Titanothat. - “I’m not prepared for this.”
I take a step back and look through my surroundings. Nothing but trees, there’s some wild life, running around, confused and thoughtless…! Shit! The ground under me gives with the next rumble, I start tumbling down along with the rubble and trees.
- “Come on Eleanor! Not the first time you had to deal with shit like this!” - I pull out my bow and nock back an arrow, but before I can fire the world fades to black…
----------------------------------------
Over in Northern Poland
- “God damn I fell… Now I have to replay the entire section again” - With a grunt and sigh I lean back in my chair and stretch my back and arms out.
I stand up from the desk, leaving the game on. The familiar pop up saying “Do you want to continue” shoving my incompetence in my face. After entering the kitchen I set the kettle and put some powdered coffee into my favorite mug… It says “Dogmeat” on it, something I used to get called back in elementary.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. What is trying to get my attention this time? It's an email from the dev team.
"
Hello team,
Below you will find the list of tasks for the day, the primary focus is on the starting sequence due to some changes that were implemented recently...
"
The email continues to explain the changes that were made, balance shifts, additional lore, all that jazz.
The kettle’s whistle starts to make its trademark noise while I scroll through the email contents. The moment hot water hits the bottom of the mug, the smell of fresh coffee fills the air immediately. It’s a good smell, though I’m not entirely a coffee enjoyer.
I go back to the desk, there’s still a couple of hours for me to play. The mug lands on the desk, I sit down on the chair and take a deep breath. This is going to be frustrating.
I grab my controller, getting ready to play. I instinctively pressed “yes” without reading the contents of the message on the screen. And that was my first mistake…
Somewhere in Gallahan
The familiar sound of cicadas fills my ears as my eyes flutter open. It’s the sky… Obviously it is, I’m outside, laying on the ground in an undisclosed location…
There’s a general sense of familiarity to the air around me, at the same time something feels alien. I might be dreaming, passed out by the table of my computer after a long gaming session.
After standing up I notice that I physically don’t resemble my actual body… I’m quite slim and a bit taller than the real me. I’m wearing a simple linen shirt, cloth pants and leather boots that go up to my knees. Peasants clothes!
I have a look around, trying to get my bearings. Although I’m not entirely sure where I am… the landscape feels somewhat familiar, in a strange way… Like my perspective is off but the features are recognizable.
The surrounding fields are devoid of any human presence. It’s very beautiful though. The grass is greener than any I’ve seen which contrasts nicely with the perfectly pastel blue sky. I’m clearly dreaming, while I don’t exactly know when I fell asleep by the computer, I must’ve been quite tired and just passed out soon after I sat down and pressed “yes” to continue.
In the distance, some couple kilometers from me I see a walled town. I take one last look around before ultimately taking my first few steps, walking towards the town.
Normally this’d be the point where time skips and suddenly I’m there but for some reason I guess my brain wants me to go through the whole journey, cause why not. And so I walk… For the next 45 minutes.
Occasionally a rabbit crosses my path, running through the grass. After a short while I reach a road that seems to lead directly to the town I’m headed to. I follow it for the remaining distance, keeping an eye out for whatever this dream might throw at me
Inside the town
There’s a large arch adorning the gate to the town, on it the words “Nova Vertex” are engraved. I seem to be dreaming about the game, which makes sense. I’m a QA for the game this location appears in. At the gate there are two guards, holding pikes and shields, wearing simple linen clothing and some chainmail on top of their shirts. Keeping anything nasty that might come their way from harming the townsfolk inside.
I pass through the gate, the guards don’t pay me any mind. This is the starting town, basically it’s where you get your tutorials, equipment and meet your first few companions. You also get your first set of gear and a tutorial in here. It’s strange looking at it from a first person perspective like that but I kinda like it.
I make my way deeper inside the town. Similar to entering a planet's atmosphere, as I go deeper and deeper the amount of people increases. Pushing further and further into town, I enter the bustling market district.
Making my way through it, occasionally I stop by some stalls, picking things up and looking at them up close. The traders are either trying to sell me said object or are actively screaming at me to put it down so I don’t steal it.
In the distance the bell tower of the Wandering Cowbell Inn can be seen, it’s more or less on the other side of town from the Market Street. That’s my first destination then, gotta get there and then we’ll see what happens. That’s also the place where you get all your stuff to get you sorted and meet your companions for the first time. While I engage in the world around me, enjoying the views I hear someone behind me yell.
- “Hey! Thief!” - I turn around and notice someone running in my direction. Younger girl, wearing tattered clothes. She gets closer to me, almost there… I pounce at her at that moment.
- “Gotcha!” - She’s pinned down by me on the ground, now even more dirty than before from the mud she’s getting pressed into by me.
- “Let me go! Please!” - She’s pleading to me, but a thief is a thief…Can’t run around stealing shit from people! - “Get off!”
She wiggles around a bit, trying to get my hands off her. Meanwhile the stolen items drop from her hands. Some fruit and bread, now dirty from all this mud around us and god knows what else gets spilled around here.
The stall hand runs over to me with a couple of town guards. They shove me away from her and put shackles on her wrists. I see the little girl trying to wiggle her way out of this but it’s no use. She gets pulled up by her arms and one of the guards thoroughly checks her…
They begin forcefully pulling the girl away from us. Whenever she pulls on the chains and tries to get out they whip her back and yell at her to keep moving.
While I can’t really do anything about this, I can’t help but feel a little… Concerned? I can feel a shudder coming through my body. I watch them handle the poor thing, yelling, whipping her. It’s a back and forth, with her whimpering and the guards continuing to whip her when she tries to get away.
I look away more and more with every swing. Cuts begin to appear on her back that trickle some blood, eventually ending up on the ground. I can feel my stomach turning in on itself.
- “Thank you sir…?” - The stall hand comes over and speaks in a happy tone, a true salesman.
- “Leshy, you can call me Leshy.” - I hold out my hand for a handshake. He reaches out and shakes it with a firm grip.
- “Thank you so much Master Leshy! This thief has been bothering our stall for food since we set up. We’ve lost a lot of gold because of that brat.” - He looks genuinely relieved that the girl was caught, but I can’t shake the feeling that she’s going to be… severely punished.
- “All in a day's work dear friend.” - With a smirk I turn away from the Stall Hand and continue down the road on my trip to the Wandering Cowbell.
I’m having this feeling, like how you do something in game that you regret? That’s the feeling, I would spam that quickload button faster than anyone at this moment in time. But alas, it’s a dream, I think.
I glance towards the direction where the girl was being dragged, the marks of her feet dragging on the ground are still there. A the trickling blood from her cuts lead you directly to her.
As I turn around a very bright red haired lady catches my eye. She looks at me as she makes her way past me. Carrying a pure white Glaive, its blade is massive but there seems to be no weight to it. She’s also wearing a practical skirt, not short but not too long with the back of the skirt reaching nearly to the ground.
It’s hard not to recognize Xerra, the first companion you meet when starting Vertex. With a small nod she glares at me and continues on her trip, wherever it may lead.
The market district of Nova Vertex
I move forth through the shopping street, looking for provisions and interesting items to pick up… Specifically I’m looking for necklaces to enchant for my next outing. Style is not really important in combat, but every up and coming Titanothar spotter knows that a recognizable appearance makes them… stand out, popular.
At one of the stalls I notice trinkets and pottery lined up. While looking through the items with my eyes, acting with as little interest as possible… Gosh that necklace is so CUTE! I want it… But it wont fit my armor so, *Cough* I should focus on what I came here for.
The merchant at the stall is currently in the middle of scolding some guy in plain clothes. Something about picking up valuable merchandise without asking for permission beforehand. I watch the weird guy get yelled at some more, stand up and leave after setting down the pottery like nothing ever happened, what a strange kid.
Looking around the place, there’s some interesting stuff laying around… like this absurdly adorable porcelain doll that would fit with the rest of my collectibles! BUT, I’m in character. Gotta keep my Guardian face on.
- “Hey! Thief!” - A stall hand is yelling after a little girl. She is running away with as much food as she can carry. It’s a sad scene, and nobody wants to stop the girl. Everyone enables her because of her situation.
It’s a sad existence. Pretending to ignore the situation, I look away. It’s not your problem Xerra. But, turns out someone’s thinking differently here… I hear the sound of the girl yelling and mud splattering.
I look in the direction of the noise and there he is, the weirdo holding the girl down as she struggles to get out. Why’d he stop her?
Right after her runs the Stall Hand with some guards in tow. The guards shackle the girl and start dragging her away. She’s trying to get her ass out of there but every time she even attempts to escape or rip away from their hands, they just pull out the whip and slam her back with it. I decide to move forward, the shopping trip effectively done, nothing’s cute anymore.
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I walk by the guy that caught Nyxie, he looks at me and nods as I walk by. I nod back in courtesy and storm off towards The Wandering Cowbell. I don’t like him…
The street goes back to normal and people begin moving about. There are still stalls I could visit… But the inspiration is just not there anymore so I decide to make my way to The Wandering Cowbell for some indulgence of the human type.
On the road to the Wandering Cowbell
I look around while making my way towards the inn. As I’m moving through the streets I can’t help but notice the “off” vibe I’m getting from the locals, like I did something really really bad just now?
Some people are actively staring at me, others are just glancing at my direction and scoffing. Everyone is in on the joke but me, I’m not a fan of that. I should probably get outta here before I get into trouble.
A couple of minutes later I arrive at The Wandering Cowbell… A Small but magnificent looking building. Perfect for a starting off point, a memorable place that doesn’t overshadow the later, bigger places you’d visit in the game.
It has a simple, red tiled roof. The walls are made out of ashen bricks, similar to those in the waking world but a different color. The entrance itself protrudes outside like a mouth trying to suck people in off the street. The front of the building is one storey tall but the rear goes up half a storey, giving the entire thing a distinct appearance. And in the rear, a tall bell tower ready to ring out.
I open the double front door and head inside. A wall of sounds, clattering plates and mugs nearly forces me off my feet. The distinct smell of mead and wine permeates the entire lobby of the Inn. Men and women alike, armed to the teeth sit by the tables, enjoying themselves.
While making my way through the lobby I notice Xerra sitting by a perfectly carved out of one piece of wood table. She’s looking at me with her eyes, following me as I go along. I look away from her and walk up to the front desk of the Wandering Cowbell.
There, right in front of me stands quite a dashing young lady, the face is immediately recognizable from the game. It’s basically the “Tutorial Guide” lady that gives you all the stuff and sets you off with your first companion.
She has a longer pixie cut. A blonde girl with elf-like ears and sharp, red eyes. They are very striking eyes, compared to her white-gold summer dress with hints of mint. Some leather armor here and there. Very “Adventurer” like.
- “Hey there beautiful. I’m here to register as a new spotter? Am I at the right place?” - With a flirtatious tone I attempt to get her attention. She immediately looks up at me with a wide smile.
- “Welcome to The Wandering Cowbell friend! You have indeed reached the right spot to become a Spotter~. Do you have a general idea about spotting? Or do you have prior experience working as a Spotter?” - Her speech is soft and very measured. Practiced even to a certain degree.
- “There’s no need for an explanation at this time. I know what a Spotter does but I’ve never done it myself.” - I reply to her with a smile. Her demeanor is endearing, you just want to talk to her. She’s like a mother that had to deal with a lot of kids.
- “Of course…” - She hands me a piece of paper with ink and quill. - “Please, fill in your name, last name, age, known relatives and…” - She rattles off some more information I need to fill in.
I look at the piece of paper in front of me. This would be the point in game where a character creator shows up, you select your backstory, etc, etc. But I guess since it’s a dream world that’s not exactly how it’s going to go down.
I fill in the form with some information I came up with on the spot. I have no clue what to put in some spaces so I just put N/A or something.
It takes me some time to fill it all out, but once it’s all done I hand her the paper with a smile. Without hesitation she looks at it, stamps it and sets it to the side. She then grabs a piece of metal, about the size of an ID card and places it between her hands. She closes her eyes and a sharp sound can be heard from between the palms of her hands.
She hands me the piece of metal which now contains some of the information I gave. The letters look pressed in, like a hydraulic press kind of pressed. I take a glance at the lady and then back at the plate.
- “Well then mister Leshy. Now you’re a registered Spotter. Please have a seat at one of the tables and await your assignment to an active, experienced spotter within the next 10-15 minutes.” - She points me to an empty table for two in the corner. It’s unoccupied even though the other tables and benches are completely stacked with people and food with drink.
I take my leave from the desk and make my way over to the table. It’s a simple table and chair, similar to the table that Xerra sits at, it’s carved out of one big piece of wood. Not a single seam or bolt in sight.
After taking a seat by the table I relax and lean back, waiting for the fated encounter with whoever might train me.
Sitting by a table inside the Wandering Cowbell
There he is, the thief catcher. Destroyer of families and breaker of societal agreements. Blood rushes to my head every time I glance over at him.
I tuck a strand of my red hair behind my ear and shift my pose a little to be more comfortable. My armor clatters about as I move, making a distinct metallic noise.
Valerie comes up to me with a piece of paper. What’s coming up next is a training request. Let’s see what this is about.
- “Xerra, I have a newbie that needs to be trained for the next few weeks, how’s your schedule looking?” - Valerie sits down by the table opposite to me and slides me the piece of paper containing this guy’s information and a request.
- “I’ve got nothing but free time these days. What’s the request?” - I look over the piece of paper and read through the contents. It’s a simple A to B to C and then back to A mission.
Generally speaking this kind of request teaches the basics of Spotting. Tracking, Wave use, combat, etc.
- “Well then, since there’s no scheduling issues for you, you can take the training request, correct?” - Valerie leans on the table and winks at me.
- “Sure.” - I press my thumbs against the bridge of my nose and let out a large sigh.
- “What’s up? You seem to be thinking about something?” - She leans back on her chair and puts one leg over the other.
- “Well, you remember Nyxie, right?” - My eyebrows furrow as I remember the way the guards treated her when dragging her off.
- “Yeah? What about her? Did she get in trouble finally?” - Valerie furrows her eyebrows and taps on her chin. She knows the girls story.
- “Well, that guy caught the girl. I doubt she’s going to have an easy time now.” - I massage my face with my hands as I say it, pressing my fingers into my eyebrows, cheeks and behind my ears to relax my face.
- “The girl did have it coming you know? People were trying to help her and her family in many ways but in the end they degraded back into that life. I mean the parents are horrible people” - Valerie’s tone is very matter of fact but she helped the girl out in the past herself. She’s not partial to this.
- “It’s just… “ - I look up at the ceiling. - “I’ve got a soft spot for that kid. I don’t want some asshole from not around here to fuck her life up and just go about his day. It frustrates me.”
- “Well, I’ll be accompanying you on the trip this time.” - She’s going to join on the training trip? - “There’s something about him you know? He wears those clothes well but it’s like his skin doesn’t fit his body?”
- “Fine. Let’s get this done with then.” - I stand up from the table and Valerie follows along.
Back at then newbie table
I spend the next few minutes at the table just twiddling my thumbs. Waiting for the person who’s supposed to train me. A couple minutes later I’m approached by Xerra and the Clerk.
- “Alright. My name is Valerie and this is Xerra, we’ll be both taking care of your training for the next few weeks.” - Valerie sits down by my table while Xerra hovers over us, eyeing me up and down.
Up until this point the idea that this is likely a dream and I’m just following along the game “Vertex” but this place deviates more and more from what I know…
- “Alright, let's get this over with. Come to the gear storage and get yourself kitted out.” - Xerra waves me and Valerie up.
We follow her over to the counter, then behind it and we enter a small, stuffy room filled with all kinds of armor, weapons and equipment.
- “Grab some armor, pick a weapon and make sure to take a backpack on your way out.” - Xerra and Valerie stay outside and wait for me.
There’s so much to pick from, but an extremely long sword catches my attention immediately. It’s a simple double edged blade with a gold plated guard and a hilt the length of my forearm.
I grab the blade by the hilt and pull it out of the weapons rack. It’s light, perfectly balanced. The whole length is about as much as I am tall. Next to where the sword was placed is a sheath attached to a belt. I pick up the thing and attach it to my waist, afterwards I sheathe my new sword.
Afterwards I look for some armor, there’s not much in terms of full plate or chain mail, it’s just bits and pieces scattered around. I grab a harness that’s laying nearby and put it on me. Once it’s pressed firmly against my body I pick up some iron pauldrons, shin guards, half a chest plate that literally covers only the chest, not the stomach.
I slap myself a couple of times all over, making sure everything’s settled in nicely and make my way out of the storage room, picking up the backpack on the way out.
- “All done ladies, when do we set out?” - I take a deep breath, all this gearing up made me a little tired.
- “Tomorrow, I have to plan out the trip and all. Valerie will take you to a room which will be basically your second home from now.” - Xerra steps off and heads upstairs. It’s just me and Valerie now.
She doesn’t say anything, instead motions for me to follow and heads upstairs herself. I follow behind her and she leads me to a door, unlocks it and opens the door. Valerie then steps aside and with a smile motions for me to enter.
- “Food and drink are free since you’re part of the Association. Make sure to not play around too much and go to sleep early. Xerra doesn’t like when people sleep in.” - After a simple bow Valerie steps away and back down the stairs, handing me the key to my room.
I close the door and lock it using the key provided, the moment I turn the key the whole area turns quiet, like the room gets isolated from the rest of the world. I can hear the outside just fine but the rumbling and bustling innards of The Wandering Cowbell are more or less gone. Neat!
It’s only been a couple of hours since I fell asleep by my computer, but my body here already feels heavy and the bed looks very enticing.
Back in Leshy’s room
A familiar sound of cicadas enters my ears as my eyes slowly creak open. Right above me, the plain white ceiling of my bedroom. I lift my body off the bed… It feels heavy.
I stand up and walk through the door of the convenience store as a small girl runs out with some bread and fruit. At that moment I hear the cashier yell “Thief!”. I continue to the counter, preparing some change out of my wallet.
I place the counted amount on the counter and Xerra eagerly counts each coin to make sure I paid it just right. She then bows lightly and thanks me for doing business with them.
On the way out of the convenience store, a little girl enters through the door… She looks familiar.
I walk through the door as the familiar sound of cicadas enters my ears and my eyes open. Above me is the still plain ceiling of my room. I lift my body off the bed… It’s not as heavy as before.
I stand up and make my way through the door of the convenience store as Xerra is quickly dashing out of it with a couple of pieces of bread and fruit. The Cashier is yelling “Thief!” as I make my way inside. Xerra’s on a roll today.
I walk up to the counter and the little girl eagerly awaits my payment for the groceries… What? I mean, I pull out the necessary amount and drop the coins on the counter… Each coin hitting the counter reverberated with a familiar rumble of the ground around us.
She eagerly counts each coin to make sure I paid it just right. She then bows lightly and thanks me for doing business with them.
On the way out of the convenience store, I see Valerie enter, greeting me with a gentle smile. I make my way out of the convenience store as the familiar sound of cicadas is nowhere to be found.
Above me are the open blue skies. I lift up my body… It’s heavy from all the armor and the sword. I stand up and enter the convenience store. As I’m making my way in, nothing interesting happens.
I walk to the counter where Valerie eagerly waits. I count out the gold coins for my shopping and place them down one by one on the counter. Valerie eagerly counts each coin to make sure I paid it just right. After placing the coins in her purse she points behind me and yells “Thief!”
A little girl is attempting to run out of The Wandering Cowbell with some bread and fruit, but fortunately a good Samaritan catches her before she can exit.
I look down at the girl as I’m pressing my weight into her to make sure she won’t wiggle her way out of my grip. The guards quickly shackle her and drag her away as I look in amusement.
- “Does he not know? Why did he stop the girl? What’s going to become of the poor thing now. She had siblings to take care of” - They’re pointing at me… Stop, stop talking about me. Leave me alone, I did good. She’s a thief, thieves belong in jail!
I crouch down holding my ears, trying to not hear the people talk but the chatter grows louder and louder. Their fingers press against my back and head, laughing at me. Ridiculing me… STOP!
Back in The Wandering Cowbell
Like an electric shock I jump out of the bed. I’m wet like I just walked out of a cold shower. This isn’t right, this is not it. I was supposed to wake up and be back home, playing the damn game.
My hands tremble from anxiety as I try to reorient myself, the sun is coming up already… What should I do? Am I in a coma and this is just my brain helping me cope with it?
Some time passes as I try to asses my situation, breakfast arrives a little bit after I dress myself back into my gear. It’s plain, but delicious. Small loaf of bread with a well done steak, carbs and protein. I take a deep breath after finishing my meal, pressing my hands onto my face and massaging it.
- “Fuck…” - I mutter out. All of this makes no sense, but I have to push I suppose. If I just sit around and wait for shit to happen and nothing does happen, then I’m more than fucked.
With a sigh I get off the bed, grabbing my gear. I head out of the room and down the half-stairs. Xerra and Valerie are sipping on mead by the same table as yesterday.
I make my way over to them, greeting them with a simple wave. Valerie waves back but Xerra’s a little sulky it seems, looking me up and down.
- “Alright, we have to cover around 60 kilometers today. We will then set up camp…” - Xerra pulls out a map and unfolds a part of it. She points to a location, roughly 50-60 kilometers north from Nova Vertex - “Here. We have to set up camp there and make sure we’re all well rested. Lets go, we have to move out now if we want to make it there before nightfall”
Without skipping a beat we make it out of town, our pace is steady but not so fast as to tire anyone out in minutes. I wonder if we could just take a horse or a carriage. I should probably ask about that.
- “Hey, Xerra… Valerie. Why are we not taking horses? We should use those if we want to move fast, right?” - The look these two just gave me, Valerie is either confused or offended and Xerra chuckles a little. It’s my dream, horses should be a thing!
- “I’m sorry Leshy, but… What’s a horse~?” - What do you mean Valerie? What’s a horse? What do you mean what’s a horse, it’s that four legged thing people used to ride on for millennia before cars were a thing!
- “Well, you know. Brown, big, heavy with 4 legs. They run fast and carry people on their back? A horse y’know?” - I explain to them the concept in hopes that they are just joking around. I mean, it’s a damn horse, the description must match something like that right?
- “There’s no such thing here. The Northlands have some beasts they use to drag carts around, but nothing like you described. Use your own legs friend.” - Valerie slaps me on the back and starts skipping around me. - “It’s good exercise” - Sixty kilometers… god help me.
I let out a loud sigh to indicate my frustration with the interaction. This also is the cue for all of us to start making our way out of the town proper. I’m still a bit rattled after the dream, I was supposed to wake up right as I slipped into sleep. That’s usually how dreams go, there’s a turning point at which moment you snap out of it and wake up but… Not in this case I guess.
I shelf the thoughts about the dream into the back of my head for now, one step at a time Jan.