“It’s crazy man. What the hell kind of death penalties are these? It’s going to be impossible to make it to endgame if I keep losing gear and have this stupid xp debt to make up. It’s like they don’t even want people to play their game. The xp you get from fighting is trash unless you have pain turned up. This is a game, I don’t want to hurt, I just want to chill and be recognized as the powerful warrior I am. Whatever. I’m going to stick to the city and run stupid fetch quests until I can get back out there and teach those rabbits a lesson.”
Sw0rdG0d42O69 – Launch Day Forum Posts
Year 1, Month 1, Day 1, 11:23
Dr. Masters swung the axe in her hand with a steady motion. She never pictured her career like this, working in a forest, clearing trees and watching a bunch of children doing the same. Her ethics professor would have a stroke over live research with actual children. Eileen reasoned that having a psychologist mitigate any impact would be far superior to taking the moral high ground and not participating. The kids were happy at least. They were giddy in fact. Moving around, being active and knowing that their futures were going to be secure gave them a carefree sense of joy that was infectious. The work was repetitive but rewarding. The little dopamine hits of gaining experience, adding to the pile of resources and the occasional extra drop kept them all engaged.
Over the hours of harvesting, they discovered that each tree had 1 in 20 chance of dropping plant fibers and each stone block had a 1 in 100 chance of dropping a copper ingot.
Everyone paused on receiving the notification that their guild was the first to clear a lair. Cheers erupted from the children with several jumping around and yelling “We’re Number One!” Another notification appeared.
“You have received a Quest! Basic Guild Quest: Stock the shelves. Requirements: Store 400 basic wood and 400 basic plant fibers in the guild storage. This quest is mandatory and may not be dropped or failed. Rewards: A Pizza Party! Pizzas from a national chain with sides and drinks will be served in the guild hall when scheduled by the guild leader after completion of this quest.”
The children cheered even louder and started clearing the logging nodes with a vengeance. Dr. Masters sighed and returned to work as well. It would take a long time to gather all the plant fibers with a 5% drop rate from the nodes but time they had in abundance.
Torgon and his party shook hands with the mill foreman then made their way towards the market area of Miller’s Crossing. The crowds inside the town were growing as more people logged in and solo players abandoned trying to hunt in the open world. Dozens of players had died and discovered that on death you were stuck inside your house for three in game hours and received an xp debt equal to 10% of the amount required to level. No xp would be earned towards skill or level advancement until that debt was paid back. Players also discovered that experience earned for fighting monsters was scaled to the pain setting. Setting pain at zero percent also meant earning zero xp. Yells and shouts filled the market as temporary and permanent groups were constantly being formed.
“Hey Dusty, what exactly are we supposed to do with the lair cores and lair chits?” Ovarrix asked.
Dusty beamed as she shared her research, “The chits are used for out of game time dilation projects. We should probably trade or sell those. The cores we need to construct guild buildings or to upgrade our personal residences. These lair cores provide one core unit. Dungeon cores provide 2.5 core units and raid cores provide five units. Our Guild Hall requires five core units to reach level 1. The library takes twice that. The three cores we picked up put us close to having a real functional guild hall. I mean we’ll still need 2,000 units of wood and 2,000 units of stone along with the lair cores for the first level of the guild hall, but that’s simple. We really need to explore and find two more lairs to clear or a dungeon so we can knock that quest out as soon as possible.”
While they walked and chatted, a rough looking group of around twenty men approached them. Their leader stepped up and accosted them. “You guys were the group that got lucky and popped a lair. Why don’t you leave your pathetic guild and join a real guild like ours. I’m sure some of you might make the cut. If you give us your rewards we can come to an arrangement that will leave us all happy.”
Torgon tried to ignore the giggling from Ovarrix and Allestor as he looked over the motley crew in front of them. “Captain Ron Don Morgan from the Red Hat Raiders right? I’m guessing that you can give us protection in the wilds if we work with you? I never imagined we would get such an amazing offer right after a public announcement.”
The leader narrowed his eyes at Torgon’s tone. “Are you mocking us boy? You better watch your mouth, or you’ll find out just what happens to undesirables.”
Torgon eyed the man with disgust before replying, “You stay out of our way, and we’ll stay out of yours. We’re not going to join you; we’re not going to help you and we’re not going to put up with any of your crap.”
“Big words from such a small group. If you kneel down right now and kiss my feet, I’ll consider that a sufficient apology. Otherwise, we might just take offense to what you said” The raiders all laughed and focused their predatory gazes on Torgon.
“We’re done here.” The party moved to get past their group and one of them tried to grab Torgon. Guards appeared immediately and threw the offender to the ground then took him away. “The fields boys, no messing around in town, there are actual laws here that are enforced, not like where you’re from.” Torgon admonished and sauntered away from the fuming raiders.
Ron Don Morgan let the white-hot fury in his chest turn cold and calculating. “Sneaky Pete, keep an eye on those pissants. We’ll make an example out of them and the rest of their pathetic guild.” A shift man with weasel like features nodded and starting following Torgon and friends at a discreet distance. Morgan fired off a message while his eyes followed the group that dared to defy his authority. “Sir, we might have a complication here. There’s a guild that has some players that aren’t interesting in joining and don’t know enough to be scared of us” He eyed his message tab until a reply appeared. “Harass them until they want to leave. We’re paying you to secure that town for our organization. Do your job”
Torgon and others continued moving away from the area and towards the edge of town. Allestor and Ovarrix were making quiet plans on how to kill as many raiders as they could find. Dusty kept muttering about the cores and libraries and all the new books she could read. Hyperia just kept looking at Torgon.
Hyperia finally spoke, “I know we can take care of ourselves, but we have a guild full of children with no experience. Those jackals are going to be a problem.”
“We knew this was going to happen. It always does.” Torgon considered the problem carefully. “Our experienced players are going to be far more skilled, and I think even the kids are going to be in about the same shape as most of their members. Improving everyone’s gear and training is how we’ll make them safer”
Hyperia glared at him, “We’ve been here less than four hours and we’re already dealing with a guild war. We have a guild of children Torgon, children that have been sick or injured for a long time. Do you think they’re ready for this? They’re not used to always dealing with entitled pricks”
Allestor piped up, “To be fair, I think most of them are American and they’ve been dealing with the healthcare industry. That’s way worse than these guys.”
“Good point.” Torgon brought up his communications interface and sent out a message. “Attention all Risk of Injury members. The guild, Red Hat Raiders, is now considered Kill on Sight. If you encounter them outside of town, kill them if you can do it safely, evade them if you can’t. Stay alert and happy hunting. They’re typical bullies, relying on numbers to pick on the weak. Stick together and maintain awareness of your surroundings. Exceptional performance in defense of our guild will be rewarded with prizes” He turned to Hyperia with nod and said “Satisfied?”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Guild chat exploded with messages. The less experienced staff voiced some concerns, but the children were extremely enthusiastic. Hyperia rolled her eyes so hard Torgon worried she would sprain her neck. “Hype, it’s the best we can do. Diplomacy would just feed those monsters and encourage them more.”
She grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck, “Yeah, you’re right. Nothing to do but farm them until they abandon the area now.”
Allestor clapped Hyperia on the shoulder, “Now we get to have some real fun when we’re out grinding for loot and levels. You don’t want it to be boring, do you?”
They reached the city gate and waited for Torgon to send another guild message. “Lead team is heading into the wilds. Everyone who wants to go exploring in the dangerous unknown, wait an hour then head out in a single group. We should draw the rats after us and give the rest of you a chance to explore in peace for a while.” Torgon nodded at each of them, and they settled into a loose traveling formation and headed out the eastern gate along a well-traveled earthen road.
The area around the city walls were clear for a couple hundred yards then a forest of mixed pine and hardwood trees began. The road wound through the forest with little traffic. Ovarrix motioned to the others to head into the trees around a bend. They moved into cover and lay against a rise looking down on the road. “We have a tail, looks like the rats in town are eager to play.”
Sneaky Pete cursed as he saw the empty road in front of him. He opened his party interface and messaged, “Boss, I’ve lost them. I think they went into the woods. What do you want me to do?”
“Pull back, we’ll set up an ambush on the road not far into the forest. We can organize a toll for everyone passing through that we don’t decide to just kill anyways. Those cocky noobs won’t last long out there. The ones that the monsters don’t kill we’ll get.”
Pete turned around and moved down the road, unaware that he was the one now being followed from the tree line. Ron Don and the rest of the Red Hat Raiders, a force fifty strong, quickly set up in the trees on both sides of the road. No ranged weapons were in evidence nor was much discipline to be found. Each group of raiders focused solely on the road leading deeper into the forest. They didn’t even have a rearguard.
Torgon fired off a message to the guild, “50 Raiders lying in ambush about a quarter mile from the eastern gate into Miller’s Crossing. Don’t exit the city from the East. Head West if you want to go exploring. We’ll peel off deeper into the forest and let them sit there doing nothing.”
The party crept away quietly, traveling perpendicularly to the road and moving into deeper forest. After a couple hundred yards they broke into a slow jog to increase the distance. Allestor broke the silence, “They’re going to be a problem. It would be good to find some of them in smaller groups and slow their progression.”
“It seems like they’ll slow their progress enough on their own if they’re going to have fifty people wait in ambush for a party of five. Let’s find something to kill and make sure we stay ahead of them.” Dusty grumbled. The group fanned out into their loose travel formation and started exploring the woods.
The old growth forest stood in muted silence, the ground carpeted with leaves and large gaps between the trunks of the trees. Little light filtered down, dimming everything with perpetual gloom. Soft crunching echoed from the footfalls of the party while the chirps and clicks of insects teased the edge of hearing. Foreboding chills spread to the party as they moved ever deeper into the forest. Crossing a small clearing, a low growl caused everyone to freeze.
A huge form of fur and fangs burst from behind a gnarled oak knocking Ovarrix to the ground. A shaggy brown wolf snarled and snapped at him, held at bay only by the sword he had interposed to keep the slavering jaws away from his throat. Hyperia fired off a cerulean force bolt that smashed into the wolf’s side. The wolf whimpered and shifted its attention to her. Dusty rammed the side of the wolf with her shield, bowling it over. Swords flashed and soon the wolf expired.
Torgon scooped the loot, a wolf pelt and a crafting recipe for a wolf pelt blanket. “Hyperia, you’re taking point this time. You’ll pull any wolves we find with your force bolt, and we’ll take them down. We can make blankets from pelts, and I don’t want to sleep on those crappy straw mattresses with no covers. It’s time to get our grind on and see if we can make some freaking progress.”
The group fell into a rhythm, searching for and killing wolves for more than six hours. They had collected over 700 pelts, 150 units of wolf meat and another 14 recipes. The work became easier when their swordsmanship skills leveled and Hyperia’s force bolt hit level 2. Hyperia gained a point of intelligence and everyone else gained a point of strength from the skill ups. The added damage made each fight easier, and they could comfortably face two wolves with minimal risk and three with light injuries.
Torgon glanced back at his notification, “Congratulations. Your Swordsmanship skill has reached level 2. You gain +1 Strength. The primary attribute for this skill is strength and you will gain 1 point every 2 skill levels. The secondary attribute for this skill is agility, and you will gain 1 point every 4 skill levels.”
Torgon raised his head and addressed the group. “It’ll be dark soon, should we head back to Miller’s Crossing or try our luck in the cave we spotted. It might be another lair.”
“The teams that headed west of town conquered a rabbit lair so we’re only one core short of upgrading the guild hall. I think we should take the chance and see if it’s a lair” Dusty replied. The others nodded their agreement. They made the decision to allocate their free attribute points from the tutorial to their primary damage dealing stats before entering the cave.
Dusty pushed forward with Ovarrix to her left. Torgon, Hyperia and Allestor made up the back line as they pushed into the depths of the cave.
. “You are entering a basic lair. To clear the lair, you must kill all the creatures inside. Current kills 0/3 minions 0/1 boss. Minimum pain threshold for this lair is 50%”
A deep growl sounded from the dark, joined by lighter growls. A massive grey wolf with three smaller brown wolves stalked forward from the shadows.
Ovarrix barked orders, “Allestor, grab the two adds on the right, Torg, grab the left, Hyperia, support Torg to bring his down, Dusty, tank the boss and I’ll try to parry as much as I can while we pin him.” The party rushed the wolves hard and engaged. Allestor tackled one wolf into the other and they rolled across the floor while Torgon turned his wolf away with carefully timed attacks. Hyperia’s magical bolts burned into its side. Dusty dodged and blocked the massive wolf but was forced to give ground. Ovarrix slashed at its sides and used his blade to make the wolf’s bites less accurate. He cried out when the wolf feinted towards Dusty but grabbed his arm instead, mauling it severely.
The first wolf died to the combined attacks of sword and magic leaving Torgon free to spring to Allestor’s aid. Hyperia blasted more magic downing a second add and letting a badly injured Allestor focus on defending. Torgon hamstrung the last add and they finished it off and joined the fight against the boss. Ovarrix had one arm at his side and kept farther back, letting Dusty tank the boss more. Her armor kept her from taking as much damage, but her health was below half, and she was bleeding from multiple bite wounds. Torgon and Allestor attacked the Wolf Boss from behind, hamstringing it and preventing it from turning quickly. Hyperia pushed up with her sword, low on mana from flinging Force Bolts the entire fight. Ovarrix pushed in front of Dusty, parrying another bite attempt and giving her time and space to recover. The wolf lunged forward knocking Ovarrix onto his back failing to rip his throat out when Dusty slammed into his side with her shield. She pinned the wolf to the wall of the cave while the swords of the rest penetrated the wolf’s flesh over and over until it stilled. A small chest appeared to the side and loot markers hovered over the bodies of the wolves.
The exhausted and bleeding group collapsed to the floor, waiting for their regeneration to heal their wounds. “I think we should grind out some social quests or gathering or crafting to get some more stats, these fights hurt.” Allestor grimaced, watching the holes in his leg slowly close.
“We’ll loot and get back to town. I think we can all agree that trying to fight at night without some form of light or dark vision is suicidal. It’s possible we can pick up some skills or blueprints at the town market and just coast tonight. We’ll see how long it will take for the guild hall to be constructed too. Who knows, if we can make some wolf pelt blankets, we might even sleep.” Torgon got to his feet and moved to loot the wolves.
“Three more regular pelts and a large wolf pelt. Another skill book, Skillbook: Basic, Crafting, Craft Household Furnishings and 20 coppers. Don’t ask me where the wolf kept the coins.” He moved to open the chest, and they were greeted with another notification.
“Congratulations! Your party has successfully completed a Lair. Each member is awarded 50 xp and 10 copper. The group is awarded a Basic Lair Core, A Basic Lair Chit and Pickaxe: Basic, Crafting Tool, Durability 100/100”
“Let’s get moving and avoid the wolves on the way out. The sun is starting to set, and we can’t go in through the East gate. We’ll need to hurry to town before dark.” Wearily, everyone fell into formation heading towards town at a light jog, eager to be somewhere safer and figure out their next steps.
