Real Life RPG

  CHAPTER 1

  The Good Die Young

  I stood behind Brutale as I could hear fighting going on in the room outside. Our castle had been infiltrated, its attackers were formidable and despite our advantage in numbers I could hear that they held the upper hand. There was the sound of steel rendering flesh, spells being cast and the sound of our troops dying. The ruler of this castle, Brutale stood still as always awaiting the fight that was to come. Many have reached this far, penetrating our lands and pushed right up into the room where I now cowered behind my lord. However once they faced his fury it was different, many fell from his might. I know Brutale did not care if his troops died, he had one purpose, to kill any who challenged him. Suddenly the door burst open and four figures walked boldly into the room as Brutale got off his throne.

  “Careful there are two of them WhatchaGonnaDo” I heard a mage in the back say. From his white robes complete with his ivy wrapped wooden staff I could tell he was a healer like me. His role in this battle would be to pour his might into the Knight carrying the large shield who was obviously meant to take most of the punishment Brutale would dole out. The knight himself was in all black and not only carried a large shield but also had an axe that stood about halfway as tall as he did. The knights armor seemed to suck in all the light around it which let me know it was enchanted.

  “Yeah I know hardpounder69” the knight replied as he pointed at me. “We probably need to take out the skinny guy in the back, he must support this monster somehow”. I could see the other two companions, one an elven archer who held an impressive bow and the other a shifty looking man who had two daggers out talking amongst themselves. They were probably deciding how to defeat me first so my lord could be spared. Brutale took a wide legged stance as the group walked further into what would be the battle field. Once they cleared the door I pulled the lever which locked them inside, the only way they could leave is upon one of our deaths. The fight started in earnest, the knight took up the front as Brutale’s claws came down in a hurry and scored a hit on the knight’s shield. I could see the archer nock an arrow and start firing but my Lord could brush off hits like this, I would be vulnerable as I had no way of healing myself, my talents were for supporting groups although I did have two pretty good attacks. I waited for Brutale to show some injury, he normally did this when the attacks started getting too much for him. His main attacker was the knight who was getting constantly replenished by the mage behind him who I could see would drink a mana potion whenever his stores ran dry. If I could get a hold of such a potion this fight would already be over with. Suddenly I could see Brutale sag to his left side a bit, I ran in with the spell already on my lips and spread my hands out. A sickly looking fog left my finger tips and enveloped the attackers. It would drain away health slowly but not fast enough that it could kill under normal circumstances. What made this spell so potent was that it attacked the mind and prevented any spells from being cast. Of course this wouldn’t affect the knight much since he did not cast spells, but the steady stream of healing magic being pumped into him was cut off. There was no antidote, the spell dissipated after 15 minutes and unfortunately I couldn’t cast it again until an hour after the effects had worn off. After the spell was cast I already had another on my lips which I cast as an arrow punched into my shoulder sending me back. The spell I uttered caused an acid rain to pour down, it would also slowly take away health but this attack had the added effect of corroding armor. I could see the knight mouth something back to his companions as I pulled the arrow out of my chest. The knight started taking heavy damage after I finished my spell as my lord started tearing into him with renewed vigor. The knight hid behind his shield and started drinking his potions when I dashed forward underneath my lords legs and brought down my skull tipped staff around his shield and hit him on the side of the head. I could feel him buckle at the hit as I retreated as a throwing knife appeared in my shoulder. My weapon is unique, while it is heavy for me to wield, any successful hit I make hurts a lot. I felt weary during this time as Brutale continued with his slashing claws as the knight finally fell. I could hear the attackers cry out at this as arrows started pouring into my lord, the shifty one who threw the knives also darted forward, what little armor they had on was in tatters. My lord for his benefit was stronger, upon the death of an enemy he gained power. Both of my spells dissipated as the mage started pouring healing magic into the dagger wielder as my Lord started to falter again. The damage dealt though was too great for the mage to keep up with as the dagger wielder fell. Brutale got stronger and took to the air and started breathing hellfire instantly killing the elf as the mage fired off what little offensive spells he had. Brutale went searching for the mage as he ran around the room steadily firing off spells. Because of the way the bodies were laid out, it was difficult for my lord to catch up with the mage despite the slow speed in which he moved. The room we were in really didn’t lend itself to aerial combat. The mage slowly whittled away my lord’s health as I had nothing that could really harm him. I cast my two previous spells again and could see the mage’s robes fall apart as damage was being done to him but all that did was allow the mage to run faster as he casts out his weak spells. Eventually Brutale fell as I ran over to where the switch was and flipped it. The mage roared in anger and threw his spell at me which caused me to fall as he began reviving his comrades. Although I was down, I could still hear the conversation being held.

  “This is bullshit” the knight said as he turned towards the archer. My armor is in ruins and we still didn’t get the glitch to work”.

  “It was that damn mage” the elf said as I heard the twang of his bow as another arrow pierced my body.

  I had heard enough and logged out of the game. My name is Jackson Gray, I am 23 years old and I am quality control for Virtual Earth, the premiere virtual online game. The end boss character, Brutale, was the final boss in a hidden dungeon that must be defeated in order to cross over into the frost lands, a boss that was found to have glitches. Brutale had the power to take the power and life from any player he defeated. What ended up happening was that many players willing came to be destroyed by Brutale, making the monster stronger and stronger. They would log on and sacrifice themselves to his might, which made it impossible for any other well-meaning characters to cross over into the land where our expansion was taking place. We had tried to solve the problem by taking away Brutale’s power, that did not work as the artificial intelligence that we call PATRICK which ran our game had stopped responding to us. We tried causing stat losses for each time a player died, that did not stop those willing to sacrifice themselves. Finally we equipped ourselves with epic armor and weapons and went after those who were protecting the beast and got ourselves destroyed by the mob, not to mention Brutale. We eventually ended up putting in a door, which was my idea. This segregated those who were feeding Brutale into a fight which they quickly lost to the monster of their creation. Once only Brutale was alone in the room did I have the big idea to make a weapon that could take away half of a player’s life points with each swing. We all teleported in the room with Brutale and killed the beast. It was then decided to stop this from happening again we needed a door to close after a group came inside. PATRICK would not let us do it automatically, so the work around for now is that I would have to enter the game, which PATRICK allowed. My total part is to make the fight a little harder but mostly to open and close the door. Once I died the party could walk out the other end of the room the fight was in an escape into the frost lands through a secret entrance.

  “How did the fighting go?” asked Harold, another guy on quality assurance.

  “It went okay, just another group trying to make the game glitch again” I began. “I have been killed 30 times today, w
ell at least it is Friday and Brutale will no longer have to spawn”. I waited until Harold opened the full body pod I was in, as we had been communicating by radio.

  “Well it fucking blew out here, people are still mad and there is a massive protest going on about that prisoner shit” Harold replied.

  A year ago due to a fluke accident, a player who suffered a massive heart attack in real life was still found in the game. This was discovered by the victims best friend who was shocked to not only see his friend logged on, but even had a conversation with him. Of course this went viral as the company I work for Imagery had no idea this was even possible. The player who is now known as Dan Yearser, is what is known as a perma player, those who somehow have life inside the game. Inside the game everything is pretty realistic, you can get hungry, you can eat and drink. Other than the fact technology really doesn’t exist as we know it inside the game, someone could lead a productive life. It is because of this some of the physically disabled people around the world had drank poison or overdosed on medication and plugged themselves inside the game. Once they found out they had full mobility again, terminal patients were next to try. Imagery sensed a way to make money and upped their subscription prices. People were willing to pay premium to see their family members again and the money started rolling in. The latest controversy was surrounding the plan about condemned inmates. Rather than killing these people outright and being done with it, Imagery started selling special pods which could kill the condemned without pain and allow their consciousness to live on in a separate colony within the game. This angered the victim’s family members, once we started losing control of PATRICK, the A.I. allowed these killers a way off of their exiled island and let them intermingle with the rest of the players. We still could manipulate the game somewhat, just not as well as we should have.

  “Man I don’t feel like going through this shit again” I replied thinking about how long it took me to reach my apartment while going through the crowd as they broke my windows and ripped off my rear view mirrors.

  “Well you can always stay here with Brutale” Harold said laughing. “You know how to get out of the pod from the inside right?”

  “You are laughing but I should do just that, if only I didn’t hate video games so much” I said as I shivered a bit.

  “I think you should too” Harold said as he looked deep in thought. “I play this game in my off time but Brutale only spawns while I am at work, if you are serious about staying in my office I keep a cot and my sleeping bag is there also. It would be cool if me and my party could get through to the Frost Lands”.

  “I can do that” I replied as I could hear the yelling coming from outside the building. Me and Harold agreed that I would meet him about 8 pm inside the game, during that time I would have to make Brutale auto respawn since he did not appear on the weekends or after 6pm. The frost lands held decent gear but the main reason everyone wanted to get there was because of the Soul Stone. Everyone inside the game looks just as they do in real life, with the exceptions of missing limbs becoming whole again and any disfigurements are gone. The soul stone allowed a player to change into one of the more exotic races if brought to the ruler of these races within the game. So far players could become elves, goblins, orcs, dwarves or trolls, each race had its specialties. Dwarves could craft amazing armor and metal weapons, they could also mine well and where experts at building with stone. They were slow though and couldn’t really use magic or a bow, although there crossbows were formidable ranged weapons, even if cumbersome to reload. The elves on the other hand were faster than humans and expert archers. They leveled up quicker than all other races and had the ability to use magic and they were fluid with their elven blades. The elves were slight of build though and could not wear any heavy armor. Not only that but they also could not equip any heavy weapons. Goblins were fast and could equip bows and wear armor and had magic. They had a hand over most humans except in one critical area, they could not craft. Their weapons, armor and even their staffs were scavenged from others and they had no healing magic. Orcs could not do magic but they were bigger than humans, the average orc stood 7 feet tall and carried heavy armor and heavy weapons. They were built for an up close fight and had strength that was second only to trolls. Trolls were slow moving and could not craft, do magic, equip armor or carry most weapons. They were taller and broader than even orcs but they automatically replenished their health. Not many players had chosen to become a troll though, the positives outweighed the negatives. I was just a regular human mage inside the game with no real skills to speak of other than what was needed to help out Brutale. Where humans got lucky though is in attributes, humans gained attribute points twice as quickly as trolls and four times as quickly as all other races.

  It was a shame I wasn’t big on video games or this would have been a dream job, as is I was using my time here as a stepping stone until I could get on with the cyber-crimes division of the FBI. I waited until 7:45 and entered the game after respawning Brutale. I waited around for about an hour, looking at Brutale’s back as he stood as still as ever. Harold must me late I thought, as I had been waiting for well over an hour. I hit the switch and opened the door and walked outside the room of the final battle, the blue skeletons that served as the foot troops for the massive clawed demon stood still. I walked around the level ignored by bony warriors and really got a chance to look around, something I had never done. This virtual world was fantastic, it looked like real stone and felt like it when I struck the wall. I walked around a bit around the level until I reached the stairs. I could still hear no fighting and wondered what the hell happened. I sighed and went back to the chamber I shared with Brutale and to my shock he was gone.

  “Damn thing must have disappeared since Harold is taking too long” I said to myself as I closed the door and went to log off. The log off button that was normally at the bottom corner of my vision was missing.

  “PATRICK log me off, operator #257” I said waiting for the A.I. to respond. Nothing happened as I began to get worried. I stayed in the game what I thought was all night trying to log off when I finally heard fighting outside. I opened the door intending on yelling at Harold. A group of three orcs ran in and charged me.

  “Harold it’s about damn time, where have you been?” I said walking up to the orcs. One raised his sword and struck me hard as I crumpled to the ground.

  “Who the fuck is Harold?” another of the orcs said as he too struck me down.

  CHAPTER 2

  A New Life

  The hits hurt, much more so than they ever had and I awoke in a building of some type. All around me I could see men and women wearing nothing but their underwear laying on slabs around me as they were attended to by different copies of the same man who stood above me.

  “What are you doing here?” the old man said as he yanked me up by my robe. “You already have an type and ability, now get lost”. I sat up feeling confused as the old man grabbed me by my robe and tossed me out the door. I looked back to see a sign which read “Incoming Players”. I had no time to think about that however as an instant message popped up in front of me from Imagery Quality Control. I accepted it and allowed the voice function to work.

  “Man it’s about damn time, something is wrong with PATRICK, it won’t let me log out” I said waiting on Harold to reply.

  “Is this Mr. Gray?”

  “Of course it is me, now get me out of this game” I replied irritated. The voice that spoke to me did not belong to Harold which I found a little weird.

  “Mr. Gray this is David Keen, the vice president” the voice replied.

  “Mr. Keen, can you get me out of here?”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this Mr. Gray but you we were attacked and bombed last night, the culprits have not been caught”

  “Mr. Keen what does that have to do with me?”

  “You were killed last night Mr. Gray, the attackers probably thought the building was empty”

  “What the
fuck do you mean I died?” I screamed loudly. “Just get me out of here”.

  “Mr. Gray I recognize this is a difficult time for you, but there is nothing we can do” the voice said then paused. “We looked through your record and saw you do not have a next of kin”.

  “I was brought up in foster homes, what do you mean I died?”

  “Mr. Gray then that means we cannot be held liable since you do not have anyone that could sue us” Mr. Keen said as I thought the bastard sounded relieved. “We are trying to pay you out your money in in game gold but the A.I. somehow has forbid us from making more gold or even to update your stats. I am afraid you are on your own. Enjoy your new life Mr. Gray, this is the last you will hear of me or any other employees from Imagery”.

  The line suddenly went silent as a seethed. I was not some condemned criminal or some terminally ill person. I sat down on the ground, it felt just like real cobblestone I thought as I tried to figure out what to do. I sighed as I could see I was on my own. I had 50 silver in my pocket and took time to look at my inventory and my status.

  Just freaking great, I thought to myself. I have never even heard of my ability, in fact I am sure it never existed until now. Even my name smacked of irony, if I didn’t know better I would swear PATRICK was behind it all. The weapon I have was useless in one on one combat, no matter what I could never kill anyone with it, only get them down one life point which is where they would stay. My ability took away 25% of my attack ability which wasn’t too bad since I couldn’t unequip my weapon anyway but the hit to my defense would be felt. I looked around and could see many beginning players wander about, each outfitted better than I was. I at least knew the city I was in, Mandalo. New players started off from one of four cities, Dalorian was the most populous and the starting place of all warrior class with about 48% of players starting their quest from there. Next was Ambush, home of the rogues, this was the next most popular class to play as 25% of players started from there. After than you had Precision which tied with Ambush at 25%, most archer and mage types started out from there. Where I was at was home to the convicts who were exiled. There was a small economy and plenty of NPC guards around to keep the peace. The reason I knew as much as I did was because I was quality Control and had to investigate every glitch, we had not been able to prevent the mysterious boat which showed up one day to take people off of the island city. I walked through the various crowds until I reached the city walls, just like in real life I could see the sun was still low in the sky. As I walked past a couple of mean looking guards I got a notification box pop up in my view.