Real Life RPG (6 page)

              “Where is that fucking mage at?” Big Sally saidas he grabbed one of the twins by the collar.

              “Hey you know if you attack that guy the guards will be here in a second” I said as I came down the stairs.

              “Here the little shit is now” Frankie said as he looked my way. “You is lucky we don’t know who you are in real life little man. If you give me back all the shit you stole from us plus 100 gold I am willing to look the other way”.

              “Fuck you, I’m an orphan” I said as a sat down at the bar and signaled the barkeep who was silent and worried looking for food and drink.

              “I don’t think you understand” Big sally said as he made his way over to me. “Once we get off of this island I am a made man, there will already be big piles of gold and gear waiting for both of us when we get out. I can persuade other characters to make your life hell”.

              “Good luck on that” I said and tucked into my bowl of soup. The mobsters gave each other a look then vanished out of the door. I could see the twins sigh in relief as the barkeep came over to me.

              “You immortal ones have it made but I would watch those two if I were you” the barkeep said as she wiped her counter.

              “What do you mean by immortal ones?” I asked.

              “Whenever you die, you get to come back, it’s not the same for us” the woman began as she put down her rag. “Whenever one of my kind dies, we don’t respawn, a copy is made and sent in our place that has a whole different mind. If one of my kind can go three months or so without dying we start becoming aware and able to hold a conversation unlike the new blood which just repeats the same things over and over again. Sometimes the immortal ones just attack my kind for the hell of it, although the penalties are stiff, one week in jail and loss of all levels and skill points. I am a level six now myself since I have been going out at night and fighting them wolf pups along with others in town. Last night though the Darlene who runs the mount shop didn’t make it back. I thought she had died and expected a new Darlene to be created but when I went to her shop she was gone. If only someone would go to the small clearing where we were killing wolves last night and see if she is there.

              I accepted the quest as an icon appeared on my map. I minimized it and headed outside. I had been playing for a full day now and had not visited a skill trainer, although I wondered if that was even possible since I was unaware of what my status was in game. In Virtual Earth there were three kinds of recognized players, Premium subscribers, regular subscribers and free subscribers. Premium subscriptions came with the ability to sprint without any stamina being used as well as a free mount, usually a chestnut horse modeled after Secretariat the triple crown winner only available to premium subscribers. Perhaps their biggest perk though is that they are given a stronghold once every year. While the castles they receive are not very big, they come equipped with strong shields that single players no matter how strong could ever break. Only a dedicated raid by top players could hope to bring them down. A guild could capture a stronghold for themselves but normal non premium players find it easy to build one from the ground up and hope no others discover what they are doing before they could get their shields in place. Premium players also have access to the in game bank for free so they do not have to carry all of their money on them at once. Regular subscribers gain the sprint skill but nothing really of note. Free subscribers are hampered, their inventory bag holds a lot less gear maxing out at ten items and they can only have a total of 10 gold at any one time, effectively making it impossible for them to buy any high level items. I already had carried a little more than ten items so at least I was not considered a free player. I decided to forgo the skill trainer and made my way outside the town and crept to the area that was written on my map, happy the mobsters were nowhere around. The hunting area was not far away as a heard a scream followed by a crash. I rushed as fast as a could go, my ability hampered my speed and used up my stamina as I saw a woman laying at the base of a tree on a branch that had obviously been her perch away from the wolf who was attacking her. When I say wolf I don’t mean a pup, this was an actual wolf.

              I ran over to where the wolf had a hold of the woman’s leg and brought my staff down hard on its back. The wolf faltered a little but kept shaking the limb as blood started pouring everywhere. I hit the wolf again, this time I had gotten its attention. The wolf turned to me and grabbed ahold of my weapon with its teeth and ripped it out of my hand. I jumped back as the wolf turned back around to fight the woman who was shuffling on the ground to regain her footing. I went after the wolf after grabbing my staff and hit it again as the woman started taking even more damage. She kicked at the wolf with her good leg but I could tell she was getting weak when I had an idea. I clicked on the woman and sent her a party invite which she accepted. I struck the wolf again and could see the woman regain her footing as the wolf now started tearing me apart. The wolf went after my throat and had me down to 8% health as the woman I went to save finally finished it off. A status box pooped in my vision letting me know I had leveled up again and completed the quest.

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              The skill still sucked but at least I could see a bright spot forming, the way I read it, 10% experience would affect the entire team, all I needed to level up was to make sure I was never by myself. I limped a bit as Darlene quit my party then ran a few feet before vanishing. I knew she would already be at the town in her stall when I got there. I scavenged the wolf and received its pelt for my trouble.  I had barely made it in town as my two enemies were walking out. If I was a little slower they could have killed me without any repercussions. Frankie started towards me but one of the female guards cleared her throat and looked our way. She like all guards here was a level 20 and more than capable of kill me along with the mobsters and throw us all in prison. The mobsters gave me the throat cutting sign and departed as I limped to a potions shop. I walked inside and was met by a girl of no more than sixteen.

              “What can I do for you today, you are bleeding everywhere” she said her blond hair flying all over the place.

              “I just need some potions to heal up a bit” I replied as I felt real pain fighting that damn wolf. The girl walked to the wall and grabbed a red vial filled with red liquid and handed it to me. I looked at the price and paid the 20 silver and downed the vial. It only restored 20 hit points so I bought four more which at least gave me back a respectable amount of health.

              “You know to save yourself a little money you could always visit a skill trainer and learn to make your own potions, I just happen to know one that is real cheap” The girl said as a woman walked from behind the curtain behind the counter.

              “Daisha leave this man alone, what did I tell you about being out here anyway?” The woman said scolding the girl. The woman was obviously the alchemist who had made the potions I had drank. She leveled me a stare which told me to get the hell out and I did. I walked a little ways and looked at my map, it was glowing where Darlene’s shop would be so I made my way over to her place. The building was off to one side and I could see several broken down looking ponies and mules in the yard. I scanned them and could see the prices were way out of my price range, 10,000 gold for a broken down pony? Darlene must hadn’t sold any animals on the island but that probably was the point. I walked into her shop where I could see her and the barkeep Tavoria laughing at a joke being told by the alchemist who I had just left at her shop. How the woman made it over here so fast though I had no idea, I walked closer as the women noticed me.

              “Here is my hero now” Darlene said looking still a bit sluggish but happy nonetheless.

              “I can’t thank you enough, here take this” Tavoria said as she handed me some type of cookie. I ate it as a status box popped in my vision.

              Finally a skill I could use but I started getting a little wary, players under level 50 could only have access to three skills, those above that level could have six. I already had two I could not get rid of although one was luckily getting ready to be maxed out. Special skills only went up 5 levels, the fifth level you received the biggest jump and I was already at level four in that stupid team player skill. I smiled at the women who nodded back at me, Darlene was the next person to hand me something, a spell book.

              “I know you are going to want to leave like the others, but if you ever want to come back you have a place here” Darlene said as she handed over the book. I started reading the book as the pages started flying by as the book disintegrated into dust, a new pop up came into view.