Hemirtal, Draft 01, CH 06 (Patreon)

The hour walk until a building appeared in the distance was surprisingly nice. James couldn’t be certain how fast he walked, so the distance he traveled was unknown, but he could walk fast before his stamina bar appeared and began to drop.

He knew the building in the distance was a farm by the field of wheat the road followed; it was tall and golden, which he thought meant ready to be harvested unless it served no purpose beyond a visual representation of there being a farm. He’d played games like that. Where the environment played little part other than to say it was there.

When he was close enough to see the building had two floors and windows, he could tell a man stood by the entrance, leaning on something. The clothing he wore was simple, similar to what James wore. His hair was long, black, and well combed. A detail someone had forgotten about, James decided, remember the long hair of his youth and the work required to keep it looking good.

“Greeting, Stranger,” the man called, “Are you coming over from Stormborough?” His arms rested on top of a hoe.

“Greetings,” James answered, “How did you know?” He offered his hand. “I’m William.” Bradley stayed close to James instead of wandering as he had until the man came into view.

“Only place the road goes in that direction.” The man ignored the hand. “I’m Anton.”

Quest Update: It’s time to get social

Get to know the people of Shimmerland, 1 out of 5

Help the people of Shimmerland, 0 out of 5

“I guess that makes sense,” James said, mentally dismissing the quest message. “Do you get a lot of visitors?”

“Only the occasional merchant, but they don’t stop here, they go directly to Shimmerland.” He nodded toward the rising smoke, and James made out a few roofs at the horizon. He waited a few seconds for the NPC to give him a quest, or a prompt to appear, but the man stood there, arms on his hoe, as if he was waiting for James to ask.

Only James hated asking for something directly, since it revealed too much of what he needed to anyone paying attention. That was one secret to his success: he let others tell him what they wanted, and in doing so, how he could get what he needed out of them.

This was a game, he told himself. Asking for the quest might be how things happened, but it was a game with a social manipulation aspect, so there had to be a less straightforward way of doing this.

“The fields are looking good,” he said. This was a farmer. Any quest would have to be related to that.

Anton nodded. “It’s been a good season.”

“When are you going to be harvesting?”

The man shrugged. “Depends if my bull returns.”

“Bull?”

Anton didn’t reply.

It wasn’t smart enough? That seemed like a flaw in a game that looked this good. If people didn’t act like people, it would break the immersion.

“Where did it go?”

Anton motioned to the back of the field where trees were visible. “It wandered off in that direction this morning.”

“When is it going to come back?” James had an idea where this was going.

“No idea. It’s never wandered off like that.”

“Shouldn’t you go looking for it then?”

“Can’t leave the field unattended.” The man smiled. “I’d much appreciate it if you could get it back for me.”

You have been offered a quest by Anton the Farmer

Quest. Ferdinan is off smelling flowers.

Anton’s bull, Ferdinan, has wandered off, and he needs you to retrieve it for him.

Reward: 1 Fame, 3 Fresh Bread, Anton’s gratitude. System note: NPC behavior will be affected by how a player treats them, or quest rewards. Examples of effects of gratitude or resentment: altering the price of a shop’s item or availability of quests.

Accept quest?

Yes/No?

“Yes,” James said out loud and watched Anton’s lack of a reaction. Ferdinan seemed like too specific a name for a quest. James suspected the programmer for this quest was making some sort of reference he wasn’t getting.

Update to quest: It’s time to get social

You have accepted a quest from an NPC, but as someone with a manipulation module, why not see if you can’t get a little more out of them? Maybe you can talk them into a larger reward, into giving you more information, or providing you with assistance.

Reward: +1 level in Persuasion

What could he ask for? Information seemed a waste. He could see where the quest guided him. He knew to expect danger in the woods, and Anton had already said he couldn’t leave the field. But then again, persuasion was about getting people to do what they didn’t want, or couldn’t.

“You know,” James said, “getting Ferdinan back would be a lot easier if it was the two of us.”

William uses Persuasion (15 + roll 34)

Anton Resists (Base Will 3 + action against desires 50 + roll 11)

Anton wins.

Quest Update: It’s time to get social

Get to know the people of Shimmerland, 1 out of 5

Help the people of Shimmerland, 0 out of 5

Added Reward: +1 level in Persuasion

Reward: Unknown, +1 Level in Persuasion

“I’m sorry, but I can’t leave the field unattended,” Anton said, with a sad smile.

“But without Ferdinan, you’re not going to be able to harvest anything, so it would make more sense for you to leave it unattended for a little while and help me get him back, don’t you think? It’ll be much faster with the two of us.”

William uses Persuasion (15 + roll 23)

Anton Resists (Base Will 3 + action against desires, modified 25 + roll 20)

Anton wins.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t leave the field unattended,” Anton said, with the same sad smile.

James looked at the numbers. So he could talk someone into doing something that went against their desires, if he could manipulate those desires. He wondered what it would take to get Anton to leave the farm, but he didn’t have the time to spend on it.

Still, he didn’t want to leave without getting something out of the man.

“You know, that forest looks dangerous, but I’m without weapons. How about you lend me your hoe so I can defend myself?”

William uses Persuasion (16 + roll 35)

Anton Resists (Base Will 3 + action against desires, modified 50 + roll 49)

Anton wins.

Anton shook his head. “I need it for when I do the harvest.”

Right, the hoe was part of his work. Although how were both the bull and the hoe needed? James would have to research that once he was out to see if this was something he didn’t know about or another mistake from the programmer.

“How about some other weapon? You must have something that’s going to help me return with Ferdinan?”

William uses Persuasion (16 + roll 29)

Anton Resists (Base Will 3 + action against desires 15 + roll 16)

William wins.

Anton’s lips tighten, and he looked toward the door. “Wait here.” He stepped inside, and James saw a large room with a rocking chair made of branches and planks. Further in there was a table with three chairs, but before he saw more Anton returned cradling a sheathed sword. James was surprised at the emotions on the man’s face as he handed it over.

“Please be careful with it. It was Hendrik’s. It’s the only thing I have left of him.”

James found himself reluctant to take it and had to remind himself Anton was an NPC, not a man who’d lost his son and was hanging on to his memory. The belt unrolled as he took it, and he spent a few minutes figuring out how to loop it closed. He’d wished they had kept the auto-closing snaps of real belts.

Hendrik’s Sword.

Short Sword, Iron, Average Quality. Damage: cutting 15

This is the only item Anton the Farmer had left of his only son, Hendrik, treat it with care.

James looked at the description, simple, to the point, and touching. Anton was an NPC, he told himself. He existed for James to manipulate. This was just flavor text. Every game had it. It meant nothing.

Of course, in the other games he’d played, the people’s faces didn’t look about to cry when they handed him something precious.

“I’m going to take good care of it,” James said. This game was going to be a hit or drive people to seek counseling by the time they were done playing if every NPC was this expressive and came with a tragic background.

Anton forced a smile. “Thank you.”

James turned, and another thought occurred to him. He was just an NPC, he could push as far as he wanted, and this shouldn’t cause a tragic reaction.

“Anton, do you have a bag of some sort I can have? Just in case I find something I want to bring back?”

William uses Persuasion (16 + roll 45)

Anton Resists (Base Will 3 + roll 4)

William wins.

Anton nodded. “I have just the thing, wait here.” He was back inside and returned holding a canvas bag. “It isn’t much, but it’ll hold quite a few items.”

“Thanks.” James took it and headed through the field toward the highlighted area. “Come on Barkley!” he called to the wolf.

He looked at the bag.

Simple Bag

A bag that lets you carry up to six stacks of ten items. Can be attached to a belt.

James looked at the belt to figure out how to attach it, but gave up and brought up his inventory. His figure now had a sword in a hip slot, along with three other empty slots. He pushed the bag in one, and it vanished from his hand to appear there. When he tapped it, it opened, showing a three by two grid of empty slots. He was up to ten different items he could carry. Much better, and the bag he didn’t feel like he needed to give back.

* * * * *

A part of him felt having his destination highlighted was too easy. If this was real, he’d have to look for tracks, or, more likely in his case, hire a tracker.

“This is a game, Barkley. I need to remember that. Who wants to have to worry about tracking a bull? But then, why is there a tracking skill?”

The wolf glanced at him before running off into the underbrush. James chuckled at the behavior. Had wild wolves been that playful? Barkley’s behavior looked more like that of a dog in the recording he’d seen than any wild wolf he could remember watching on screens.

He slowed at the edge of the green line. It vanished on the left and right without a noticeable angle, so the area was large.

“Barkley!” he called, and the wolf joined him with leaves stuck in his fur. James stared. “What are the programmers thinking? Spending more time on showing you’ve been gallivanting about than making sure an NPC like Anton had a proper reaction to an improper response? Which one do they think is more likely to happen?”

Barkley tilted his head.

James chuckled. “Yeah, it’s not like it matters to me in the end. Come on, we have a bull to rescue.” He crossed over the threshold and waited. Nothing highlighted in red, no bells of alarms. Whatever the enemy would be, it didn’t come with a warning signal. Hopefully, it meant they didn’t know James was there either.

He took the sword out of the sheath. To confirm it, he looked at his inventory, and it was now in his hand slot. That was the advantage of a fully immersive game. No need to fight with macros and gesture command.

Looking at the sword reminded him he was almost certainly going into battle. Did he want to do that with a skill of one? Did he want to use the free module slot for a weapon he planned on giving back? He didn’t have to. He was certain there was a way he could convince Anton to part with the sword, but it felt wrong to take the only thing he had of his son.

“Do you want to know the irony here, Barkley? If I was in this exact situation in the real world, I’d take the sword without a second thought. I’d con Anton into thinking I’d honor Henrik or something and walk away with it and not lose one wink of sleep. He’s a program, an NPC, and I get hung up over the fact this thing means so much to him. You think it says something about me, or about how good this game is?”

There would be swords elsewhere. After a few quests, he’d have gold and he could equip himself properly. Going for a sword made more sense than a club, anyway. He brought up the modules and located the one he wanted.

Module: One-handed sword

Rarity: Common

Prerequisite: Strength 1, Agility 1

Skill: One-handed sword wielding

Skill: blade maintenance

Ability: Thrust: You thrust your blade into your opponent, causing a guaranteed critical (Bonus Damage). If you hit them, that is.

You have one available module slow, do you wish to equip One-Handed Sword in it?

Yes/No?

“Yes.”

You do not meet the Strength requirements to equip this module.

Strength one. He’d forgotten this game started him at zero. He closed the module menu. Everything combat wise required strength except the bow, but that was two of Agility.

“I only have myself to blame, Barkley, A game finally lets me play as myself, and I just had to go for a social character in a fantasy world.” No. He had to go for a social character and accept a quest that was going to involve fighting. There had been nothing but his ego that said he had to accept this quest.

“Live, and learn, right?” Hopefully, he wouldn’t die too often this time.

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