Chapter 46: CHAPTER 46 [Choices]
We assured von Shlippenshtain that yes, players and NPCs are friends forever, and we all meant every word.
Then we had another drink to toast our achievement and took our leave to attend to other matters. What point was there in sitting around? The job was done, everyone had their rewards, and it was time to go.
Out on the street, life in Fladridge was as ordinary as ever: children were playing, old ladies were carrying water in buckets, and players were rushing every which way. The only thing that stood out was the angry shouting coming from the pub next door.
"Seriously? Healing NPCs! Let's…let's…let's find some pandas who know kung fu and let them into the game, too. Why not? We'll give them their own continent! Got to be kidding me..."
"He's still at it." Reineke shook his head.
"Ah, he'll stuff his face and fall asleep," Kro said placidly. "All right, who's going where? I'm on my way to Hostig."
"I'm on my way to Gorrint. Some friends need me," answered Romuil.
"I have to go to the hotel first," Reineke said. "Leyton, want to come with me?"
"Of course," I said. "I'm going there, too."
"And then where?" Asked kro. "Fladridge doesn't really have anything else for you at your level."
"I'm not sure," I answered honestly. "Everyone's pushing me eastward."
"Who is 'everyone"?" asked Reineke.
"Well, all the NPCs." I twisted my hand around in the air as if screwing in an imaginary lightbulb. "The instructor, and Gunther, too—just go east."
"In that case, you need to go east," Reineke said as if pronouncing a verdict.
"Definitely?" Romuil seconded his opinion, and Kro nodded her crazy head in agreement.
"See, you always choose your own way and make your own decisions in the game." Reineke smiled humorlessly. "Where you go, how you go there, who you go with, and why. You're the only one who can decide if you want to be a dark elf or a thieving halfling. Just a minute ago, for example, you made a choice. Thousands and thousands of players would never even dream of joining a non-player order—they're way better than any clan. And you turned them down, which is your right. Neither the clan nor I will ever ask you why, though having you join would have been incredibly valuable for us: access to information, access to the order's storehouses, and an army of friendly warriors. But you turned them down, and you are perfectly within your rights to do so. The game is made up of choices like that, both big and small. You decide for yourself and bear the responsibility for your decisions."
'Why, why?' Just because. Of course, it would be great, but not with the limitations I had. Anything I did in the "minus" column would have hurt my reputation. That category includes lies, and I was a constant and willing liar. After all, that was my profession. Executioners cut off heads, beekeepers kept bees, florists grew flowers, and I lied. Okay, fine, not all the time, but I never really told the truth.
I was a journalist, and journalists never speak the whole truth. It's always better or worse than it really is because nobody cares about reality. We live there already. And who knows what I'd end up doing in the game? Maybe I'd beat someone up or kill them. My reputation would suffer, seeing as how I wouldn't be evaluated by a person—they might miss things or not take emotion into account. No, it would have been a machine that simply records what happens. Sooner or later, and almost certainly sooner, my rating would drop below the threshold. I'd be kicked out of the order, declared its enemy, and hounded through all of Elysium. And they have missions in every city! Anyway, I didn't need that. The benefits were outweighed by the drawbacks. Besides, I wouldn't be getting most of the benefits; my clan would.
"Still, the game reserves the right to give you friendly advice," Reineke continued. "Once you've done everything you need to do in your current location, it uses NPCs to give you hints and push you in the direction that will be best and most interesting for you...from its point of view."
"But how does it know what's best for me?" I was pretty sure I knew the answer to my question.
"Big brother is always watching!" Kro opened her eyes wide.
"Basically, yes," agreed Lis. "It's true. The game analyses all of us constantly, checks to see which quests we'd like, looks for adventures we'd find fun—at our level—and then it decides which way is best. But you decide if you want to go that way or not. I'd have to agree that the east is the best place for you right now."
"Why?" I was intrigued.
"Your level, for starters. Most locations there are levels 32 to 45. I mean, sure, they have high-level locations, too, and even a raid boss. But on the way to Selgar—"
"Selgar?" I asked, putting the emphasis on the second syllable.
"No, it's Selgar," said Krolina helpfully. Romuil nodded.
"The biggest city on the eastern side of Ratter-mark. Well, like Brad here. Lots of traders, an auction, herds of players, a few major clans, tons of quests. You should go there regardless, but besides that, the only people who don't want to visit an entire section of the continent like that are ridiculously noobish or lazy. The question is how to get there."
"Exactly, that's what I'm talking about." Reineke pulled out his map. "Look, there are two ways you can go. The best option is to follow the Crisna River, or, as it's normally called, the Great River. It flows across half the continent, starting in the Sumak Mountains and ending in The Nameless Sea. All you have to do is follow it, and you won't get lost. That way is longer, of course, but you go from town to town doing quests along the way. All in all, you should be in Selgar a month or a month and a half from now. There are lots of towns along the way, and it takes a day or less to go from one to the other. You always have something to do."
"Just make sure you go around Snakeville." Krolina poked her finger at a spot on the map. "Right here."
"Why?"
"It's a bad place," Romuil said. "There used to be a village there called Snakeville. Then, three years ago, two clans went to war. Someone didn't do something—someone's toes got stepped on or whatever. Any-way, they really went at it."
"So what happened?"
"Then," continued Reineke, "one of the clans started losing. Their mage, apparently an incredibly powerful one, cast Universal Flood. It's a spell that starts water pouring out of the sky like, I don't know...like from a bucket. No, more like from a hose—a ton of water for a long time. But he must have missed something because the whole flood swept right through Snakeville."
"And?"
"And washed it into the river. The whole village. With its roofs, well, cows, and NPC villagers. Everyone drowned. All that was left were the chimneys. Well, and picturesque ruins of houses."
Kro jumped in. "The admins were furious. They added a rule saying you can't touch NPCs unless it's part of the script, and also another rule against large-scale combat in cities, villages, and really anywhere people live. And the penalties they added...damn."
"The admins also disbanded those clans, holding them responsible for catastrophic losses and casualties in the game world even though it's all just a bunch of code," Romuil said in closing. "And they left Snakeville as a warning. It's a bad place. They say it's terrible there at night."
"What do you mean?" I still didn't understand what was bad about it.
Reineke rejoined the conversation. "You always know you're playing a game, right? And no matter what you're going through, it's never really all that scary, no?"
"Of course."
"Well, when you're there, you have a hard time distinguishing the game from reality. You think that if you die, it won't just be the game. At least, that's what people who have been there say."
"But they don't tell you what's actually there," confirmed Kro. "All they say is that it's "terrible?' I wanted to go check it out, but I haven't yet."
"Long story short, just go around," said Reineke to sum up.
"Why are you sending him along the river?" Romuil interrupted and pointed at a different spot on the map Reineke was still holding. "He could go through Foim Plateau."
"Right, the plateau, where the yetis live?" Reineke snorted.
"It's twice as fast. And Amadze crossed it alone two years ago, and his level wasn't that high either."
"What is Amadze?"
"A scout."
"Exactly. And Leyton is a warrior. The yetis will be all over him, and they respawn every five minutes. Plus, Gruskat Plain is after the plateau. He'd have to deal with hordes of ores and wolves."
"It's up to him." Romuil stretched and continued.
"Anyway, see you all later. I'm off."
~ ~ ~
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