The Man pumped his arms and legs as he frantically ran down the corridor as fast as his legs could carry him. His feet skidded along the smooth stone floor as he slowed to make a sharp right turn, followed soon after another left. The same looking walls rushed past, looking identical to every other hallway he'd run through. For all he knew he'd already been down this way. Exploration, however, was not his objective. Judging by the angry hissing and growling coming from behind him, he'd not managed to lose his pursuers. To the contrary, they sounded like they were gaining on him. Hazarding a look over his shoulder, he saw the trio of eight foot tall lizard men chasing after him.
He took another sharp turn, slamming his shoulder into the wall before he took off again. He heard the bulkier creatures behind him crash into the wall, howling as they resumed their pursuit. His turn had placed him into a long corridor leading to the upper level of a large multi leveled room with a spiral staircase descending to the floor below and a railed balcony. In a rush, the Man chose the latter and vaulted over the railing, hoping the floor wouldn't be too far below. After a five meter drop, he landed hard, tumbling forward onto his face. Quickly regaining his footing, he surveyed his surroundings. The room was in the shape of a half circle. In the center of the flat wall in front of him was a wooden double door with red trim. To the left was another open corridor, and to the right a second set of doors with green trim.
The red trimmed door was closest. Wanting to put anything between him and the things trying to kill him, the Man ran for it. He'd just reached it when he heard a screech from above as one of the creatures spotted him from the upper level he'd just jumped from. The door wouldn't open. He looked behind him at the sound of the creatures leaping over the railing and landing with a trio of resounding impacts. Each was a head taller than him, with pale green scales and various mismatched portions of leather armour. Each carried an intimidating large cutlass, with a strange red shape hanging suspended above their heads, over text reading 'Salamander Soldier'. They hissed as one and charged.
The Man tried to open the door with renewed vigour, slamming his shoulder into it, but it wouldn't budge. Out of time, he ducked under a sideways slash by the first creature to reach him that came so close he could hear the blade whistling through the air. He moved left, barely out of the way of a downwards strike by the second. The third creature was between him and the open corridor. With nowhere else to run, the Man made a break for the green trimmed door.
He rammed into it, pushing it open and rushing inside. He ran headlong into a very surprised looking pair of individuals. There was a young woman and a figure covered in a red cloak; most of the face of the latter person was hidden by a black cloth mask. With no time to alter his course he passed by the woman and bowled over her companion. The figure under him let loose a string of expletives and roughly shoved him off.
The salamander soldiers wasted no time in dividing their attention amongst their new targets. The figure in the red cloak was already attacking the lead soldier when the Man was still scrabbling to his feet. From within his cloak he had drawn an exotic sword with a golden blade. Its shape was like a combination of sword, sickle and hook. Blocking his opponent's strike, he followed with a slash that took his blade through the creature, entering at its left shoulder and exiting at its right thigh. On the return swing, he caught the hook behind the lizard's knee, and with a strong jerk, tanked the leg out from under it. The lizard dropped onto its back. A pair of cuts through its throat and its struggle came to an end in an explosion of polygons.
The cloaked figure's companion did not fare nearly so well. She was unarmed, and unarmoured. The monster attacking her slashed at her repeatedly before finishing with a thrust, impaling her. Her cry for help was cut short as she shattered.
The Man took a defensive stance, nervously eying the third, remaining lizard as it advanced on him. With only one available weapon, he threw his knife. It flew straight into the creature's chest, burying itself to the hilt. The creature stopped, looked down at the knife handle jutting from its sternum, and plucked it out. The Man noticed the green bar hovering over its shoulder emptied by a slight fraction. The lizard tossed the projectile aside with a throaty, warbling laugh and sprang forward to attack with a downwards blow. With nothing to block the attack and no time to dodge, the Man charged forward to meet it. He caught the creature's sword arm by the wrist, stopping its strike. Wrenching the arm and sword away to the side, he struck it across the face with a right hook. The salamander made to claw at him with its free hand, but the Man likewise caught that arm, too. The lizard tried to step forward, attempting to force him down, but he managed to stand his ground.
Locked in a stalemate grapple, he could only avoid the lizard's biting jaws when a golden hook grabbed it by its neck. The red clad figure kicked the monster in the back of the leg and pulled on the hook-sword, dropping the screeching monstrosity to the floor, nearly taking the Man with it. Before it could recover a trio of slashed cut through its chest and silenced it. The room was suddenly quiet as the fight came to a close. Another panel appeared in front of each of them listing XP and Col. The red clad figure ignored his, while the Man puzzled over the one near him. After a couple seconds they both vanished.
The figure in red was the first to speak, muttering an angry curse to himself. He gestured to where his companion had died. "Nice job, jackass. I've been on that escort quest for three hours!"
Now that things had finally slowed down, the Man was able to get a better look at the figure he'd collided with. He was wearing a deep maroon cloak that reached down to his calves. Under it he was clad in full lamellar armour coloured burgundy with yellow trim. The sheath for his exotic sword hung on his left hip in front of a dagger. Sheathed on his opposing hip was a short straight sword. His face from the bridge of his nose down was covered by a black cloth facemask which, oddly enough, didn't seem to hamper or muffle his speech at all. His voice had a gruff, grating edge to it. From what he could see of his face, he had sharp features. His hair was unnaturally red; the same colour as his cloak and almost shoulder length. He was a little more than half a foot shorter than the Man, and had sharp features. Above him was a floating orange icon. He did not look happy.
"Listen, I'm really sorry about your friend. I didn't mean to run into you; I was just trying to away from those things." The Man said, starting to feel distinctly unsafe again. "What were they?"
The figure cocked an eyebrow. "My friend? I told you, that was an escort quest; an NPC I was supposed to guide out of here. And those things were the standard mob in this dungeon. Friggin' everywhere. How'd you get this deep and miss 'em?"
He looked like he was about to continue talking but cut himself off. The figure peered over the Man's head like he was just noticing something. The Man followed his gaze, but couldn't tell what he was looking at.
After a moment, the red cloaked man stepped forward, sheathing his sword. "I'm sorry, my name is Devlin. Is there something I can help you with?"
His tone was suddenly friendly, but the words sounded fake, like he as reciting lines from a script. Despite the odd shift, the Man was not about to reject the assistance.
"You said you were escorting that woman out of here. Do you know the way?" He asked. "I woke up on a beach and got lost in here when those creatures attacked me."
"A beach?" Devlin parroted back.
"Yes. There was a lake in this huge room." He clarified. "How big is this place?"
"Plateau in the center?" Devlin added, ignoring the question.
"Yes." The Man replied. "You know it?"
"That'd be the boss room." Devlin said casually, before muttering to himself. "That's an odd spawning location."
The Man didn't know what to make of that last statement. "An odd what?"
"Nothing." Devlin answered dismissively. "Please, continue."
"Like I said, I'm sorry about your friend," The Man started, "but if you're on your way out of here, can you please show me the way? Everything looks the same in here and I have no idea where I am."
"Great, another escort quest." Devlin muttered to himself more than anyone. "Well, back to square one, I guess. Nothing lost."
The Man was about to ask what he meant by that when he continued. "Sure. Suppose you'll want me to take you to town, too?"
"Is there one nearby?" The Man asked, starting to feel hopeful. "Yes, please. Thank you."
There was a long pause while Devlin stood staring at him. "Welcome."
Another long pause. Devlin shifted from one foot to the other before asking expectantly, "And?"
"And?" The Man repeated back.
"And is there anything else you wanted to say?" Devlin waved his right hand in little circles like he was encouraging a small child. "Maybe something about a reward."
The Man patted himself down. "I don't think I have any money."
Even through the mask Devlin's frown was apparent.
"Wait!" The Man reached into the pouch on his side, digging out the pair of crystal bricks. "I have these…things."
Devlin nodded. "You have a deal. Let's go, then."
There was a third long, uncomfortable pause as neither figure moved. The conversation had rapidly turned awkward.
"And?" Devlin again asked.
"And…I don't know where we're going." The Man answered slowly, starting to get confused where this was heading. "You should probably lead."
Devlin paced a few steps back and forth before adding a frustrated "And?"
"What do you want me to say?" The Man asked in exasperation. "Can you help me or not?"
Devlin didn't answer, instead performing a strange wave of his hand in front of himself. A set of flat, light blue panels appeared floating in front of him with a beeping chime. He poked his finger into it a few times, navigating through it.
"Why isn't my quest log updating?" He asked nobody.
The Man stared at the floating panels. They looked much like the ones that had appeared after the fights, but with much more information. "What's that?"
"Yeah, shut up a second." Devlin said without looking away from his panels.
"What is that?" The Man persisted.
"What is what?" Devlin asked, getting annoyed.
"That." He pointed at the object of this attention. "The floating thing. What is that?"
The red clad figure stopped prodding the panels. "You can see this?"
The Man was confused by the reply. "Yeah. I mean, how wouldn't I?"
Devlin pointed at the orange icon hovering over his head, his eyes narrowing. "Can you see this, too?"
He nodded. "I was wondering about those."
Devlin poked the panel and it disappeared. He took a few steps over to him, and without comment, grabbed him around the waist. With a heave of effort, he lifted his feet off the floor.
"What the hell are you doing?" The Man squirmed free, and was shoved over onto his back. Before he could get back up Devlin's hook sword was in hand and pointed at his throat.
The Man was propped up on his elbows, with his hands held up in surrender. "Whoa, there. No need for that."
"You're no NPC." Devlin declared. "Why can't I see your icon? Who are you?"
"I don't know?" The Man started scooting away.
"I'm not falling for that." Devlin spat, keep pace.
"I don't know!" The Man shouted. "I woke up on some beach and got chased here and that's all I remember! I've spent the entirety of the time I can recall trying not to die and would really appreciate it if you would take your God damn sword out of my face!"
A deep, bassy growl reverberated through the corridor.
He slowly pushed the sword away from his throat. "In either case, if you're going to interrogate me, can it be somewhere that isn't here?"
Devlin lifted his sword away. "Fair enough, but try anything and you're a dead man."
He pulled himself to his feet. "You're the one with the sword. Just lead the way."
Devlin gestured to the room that the Man had come in from. He followed the direction and entered back into it, with Devlin following to his left and slightly behind him. They walked over to the red trimmed door that had refused to open before. Devlin approached it, pulling a key from the recesses of his cloak and inserted it into the lock. With a turn, the red trim turned green and the door opened, revealing another identical torch lit stone corridor. Once they'd started down it, Devlin performed the same wave of his hand, summoning the floating screens. Waving through it, he navigated to what looked like a map. He traced his finger along it as he plotted a path to the exit.
"Looks like we should be out in about twenty minutes or so." He stated.
"If you're not going to threaten to kill me again," the Man started, "can I ask what that is?"
"How can you seriously not know what the menu is?" Devlin adopted a bemused expression, or at least what looked like it when he could only see the top half of his face. "You're trying way too hard to fell this amnesia thing. Anyways, seeing how I'm getting you out of here, you can at least do me the courtesy of telling me your name."
"I…don't know." The Man thought hard, but no answers came. "I'm not lying. I can't remember anything before today."
"And you don't know what this is." Devlin stated more than asked, pointing up at the orange icon above him.
"No." He confirmed.
Devlin looked momentarily pleased by this. "Ok, here's an easy one; what is SAO?"
The Man stared blankly as he pondered what he at least assumed was an acronym for something. When he said nothing, his guide continued.
"Sword Art Online?" He clarified. The Man still had no answer. "Wow. Ok, how about telling me what you do know. I get the feeling that'll be the shorter list."
The Man spent the next several minutes recounting his short tale of everything that had happened up until he'd run into the red clad figure and his late escort. He answered a couple questions or gave clarifications whenever Devlin asked about his story, but for the most part his guide listened silently. The trip was for the most part, thankfully uneventful, only interrupted by a couple encounters with lone, wandering lizard men, which Devlin was able to easily dispatch. His tale ended about the time they reached a large wooden gate. Devlin pulled a level attached to the wall, and the gate was pulled upwards, opening to the outside. Thankful to be free of the confines of the winding stone halls, the Man hurredly passed through the threshold and out into the open. The gate descended and closed as Devlin followed after.
Before them was a vast green field of grass flowing in the breeze. After the stale air of the dungeon halls, the open air was a welcome change. The sun was making its descent towards the horizon as the evening progressed towards dusk. After all the trouble from the beach to the present, it was a little past seven thirty. The Man looked back at where they'd come from, seeing the dungeon gate was embedded in the base of a short rough mountain.
He searched the area for any other landmarks; for the most part everything he could see was green fields with an occasional crop of trees or rocky outcroppings. In the distance, he thought he could see what looked like a town. Much closer, a little over a hundred fifty meters away, was a pair of stone plinths with a large metal ring connecting the two. As he was watching, a trio of figures walked through it, and vanished in a blue haze. He squinted his eyes, but as far as he could see, they were gone.
He pointed towards it. "What is that?"
"Field teleporter." Devlin answered, as though that explained anything. He noticed the Man's questioning expression. "It leads to the nearest town."
"And that's how we're getting there?" The Man asked in amazement.
"Nope." Devlin said flatly. "We get to walk."
The town looked like it was quite a distance away. "Why?"
"Orange cursor, remember. I can't go in towns." He answered.
"There a reason for that?" The Man asked. It was like every answer from his guide required further questions.
"Okay, this has gotten old." Devlin said irritably. "Start talking. For starters, who are you, and where's your icon?"
The Man shook his head. "I told you, I don't know."
"Well, mystery one should be easy. You see the health bar in the upper left of your field of view?" He pointed over his shoulder. "Should look a lot like the one you see hovering over my shoulder."
"Yeah." The Man answered, waving his hand at where it appeared to him. "Except it's almost hollow. It's just got this red bit that keeps flashing. Is that normal? It's actually starting to get really annoying."
"That means you're on the verge 'o death." Devlin explained. "Give me that crystal you have; the yellow one."
The Man dug out the specified brick and handed it over. Devlin held it at arm's length in front of him and said 'Heal' in a commanding tone. The crystal evaporated, and the bar in his vision filled green.
Devlin wiped the now non-existed polygons off his hand on his cloak, "Better?"
He nodded in confirmation. Now that he knew what the bar meant, it was discomforting to know how long he'd been so close to dieing.
"Ok, next to the bar should be some text. There'll be a number of how many hit points you have, and then your name and level number." Devlin listed.
The Man could see the hit points, but where the name and level were supposed to be was a blank space. He said as much.
"That's weird." Devlin admitted. "Here, do what I do."
Devlin held out his right hand at shoulder height. Connecting his index finger and thumb, he swept his hand downwards. With a beeping chime, the floating panels reappeared. The Man mimed the movements and the same set of panels appeared in front of him. Devlin closed his own and sidled up to the Man's side, directing him through the menu.
"Alright, this is getting really weird. Your player information is all blank." Devlin said. "I think I'm starting to believe you."
"So," The Man started, "what now?"
"Same as before; we go to town." Devlin nodded his head towards town, gesturing for them to start their trek. The Man noticed that while he stopped walking behind him, taking a spot to his side, though several paces apart. "'Course, we'll need to figure out another way for you to pay me for getting you out of that dungeon."
"What?!" The man said in surprise. "You said the bricks were enough."
"Half of which I just used keeping you from becoming a corpse." He replied, still looking ahead. "That, and I still thought you were an NPC. What I really need more than anything right now is a quest. You're going to help me with that. Also, I'm pretty sure if I leave you alone you'll be dead in about an hour, so, you're welcome."
"There's that NPC word again. What does that mean? And how am I supposed to get you a quest, or whatever?" The Man asked.
"NPC; Non Player Character. Not really a person; just a computer controlled character in SAO." Devlin explained. "One of the drones."
"Not a person?" He was getting confused again. "You mean like your friend back there? You're telling me that wasn't a real person? I saw her, she looked real to me."
Devlin stopped, drawing the pair to a halt, and looked him dead in the eyes. "Do you even know you're in a game?"
The Man cocked an eyebrow, not sure what to make of such a question.
"Oh." Devlin said, realizing the answer to his query. "I'm…I'm not sure how to go about explaining this."
The town was still some distance away, in front of what was soon to be a setting sun. "You've got plenty of time to try."
Devlin gave a sigh. "Fine, but if I'm gonna be stuck talking with you for that long, I'm going to need to call you something."
"Believe me, I wish I had something to tell you." The Man replied.
"Well, until you have something better," Devlin stroked his chin in though, "I'm calling you Buttercup."
"I refuse to answer to that." Answered Buttercup.
"Well, then." Devlin took a moment. "For now, you're 'Noob'"
Noob still felt like the word was insulting, but couldn't come up with anything. He accepted it with a nod, and the pair resumed their long walk towards the distant town. Over the next few hours, Devlin explained the concept of SAO and nervegear to a very perplexed Noob. The very premise beggared belief. Everything felt real; it was hard to accept that everything he could see was just a fabrication of some sort of machine. It did, however, explain a few things. The strange way things died, the floating interfaces and icons, and the lack of pain or death when he'd first been slashed by the first creature he had run into.
"So, all of this is fake?" Noob asked, staring at his hands.
"Yup. Your real body is lying in some hospital bed somewhere. "If you're lucky, you've got someone waiting for you. To tell the truth, sometimes I forget myself that it's just a game, or was supposed to be."
Devlin segued into a brief retelling of the beginning of the death game that was Sword Art online. He went over the hijacking of the game by its creator, Kayaba Akihiko, and summarized the inability of anybody to log out. He went on to describe the end game objective of beating SAO, as well as the consequences of in-game death, and its permanence.
"It's been over a year now, but we're still only half way there." Devlin said.
"Why would someone do something like this?" Noob asked.
"Who knows; nobody's seen the guy ever since this whole thing started." Devlin shrugged. "I guess the same kind of nutcase that expects people to beat an MMO. He's probably out there somewhere, laughing his ass off."
With Noob's tale and Devlin's history lesson out of the way, the two walked in silence towards the settings sun and their destination for a while longer. Once the sun had completely set, and twilight starting to turn to night, Devlin altered their course to a lone tree nearby. Once there, he summoned his menu, and after a few taps, a pixelated haze appeared in front of him before coalescing into a pillow. He tossed it against the base of the tree. With a few more taps, a sandwich wrapped in wax paper appeared in his hand. Noob realized that he hadn't eaten since before he could remember. Devlin noticed him eying his food hungrily, and took a bite of it.
He rolled his eyes and reopened his menu, and summoned another, tossing it to him without comment. "We'll camp here tonight and get to town tomorrow."
Noob caught the offered meal and eagerly bit into it. It was surprisingly satisfying, with dense bread, smoked meat and cheese, and a layer of various greens. "Thanks."
"Y'know, just 'cause we're out of the dungeon doesn't mean we're safe. Mobs can spawn just about anywhere out here, and the spawn rates increase after dark." Devlin said between bites of his sandwich. "You have any weapons?"
With his mask pulled down to eat, Noob got his first look at Devlin's full face. He appeared to be in his early twenties, and had a sharp, clean shaven chin. He thought Devlin had looked a little menacing when he could only see his eyes and mask, but with his face bare he managed to look even more severe. Catching Noob's scrutiny, he wolfed down the rest of his meal and pulled his mask back up. Noob had lost both his dagger and throwing knife in his encounters with the lizards; his sword sheath still hung empty at his side.
"Check your inventory." Devlin instructed, smoothing his tarp out on the ground next to the tree. He sat down, drawing his cloak around himself and leaning against the trunk. His hook-sword was unsheathed and placed across his lap, ready and in reach.
Noob performed the needed motion to call forth his menu, and after some clumsy navigation, found a tab titled 'inventory'. He was surprised by how much was contained in its list. There were weapons, food, various portions of armour and an assortment of gear. Selecting a sword, he pulled it from his inventory. It formed in front of him, hanging in the air a moment before dropping to the ground. The menu had listed its name as 'Bone Cleaver'. It was a silver, one sided sword with crimson filigree running down its length. The blade was concave near the hilt, but was larger near the tip, and pitched forward about twenty degrees at the blade's halfway point. He picked it up, giving it a few practice swings to get a feel for its weight.
"Hey, you figured it out all on your own, good for you." Devlin quipped. "Interesting blade; what kind is it?"
"A falcata, I guess." Noob read from its description. He looked at the golden sword belonging to his guide. "And yours?"
Devlin's sword started out straight, but a third of the way down it flowed into a convex arc, like the outer edge of a sickle. The blade then curved back in line with the first portion, and abruptly swept back into a hook.
"It's called a khopesh. There's no point on it, so I can't use any stabbing or thrusting skills with it, but it's good enough with cuts and slashes." He explained conversationally. "The inside of the hook is unsharpened, though, so it's great for grappling. It was hard to find; most people just want katanas or broadswords."
Noob returned his attention to his inventory and summoned a heater shield. Its colouration matched the sword. Once it formed, he caught it before it fell. Lastly, he retrieved a sleeping roll and unrolled it out on the ground. He placed the sword and shield down next to it and climbed in.
"Hey." Noob called out. "You said those…mobs, they spawn more at night, right? Are we really safe sleeping out here?"
"Probably." Devlin answered simply, ducking his head down and closing his eyes.
"You don't sound worried." Noob stated.
"Not really."
Noob propped himself up on his elbow. "But wh-"
"Please stop talking. I'd like to get some sleep" Devlin cut him off. "Any wandering field mobs aren't usually that strong. More annoying filter than any danger."
Noob sat up, scanning the horizon, but couldn't see anything moving. He glanced over at Devlin; who was motionless, with his chin tucked down to his chest. He squinted; in the dark, it looked like his hand was resting on the handle of his khopesh. He figured the red clad figure was keeping some sort of watch, or was otherwise ready for trouble. Accepting that he'd wake up again once he went to sleep, he lied back down, staring at the night sky. There was a pleasant ambience of crickets and the soft breeze blowing through the tree leaves breaking what would have otherwise been silence. After a tiring day, it did not take long for sleep to take him.
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He was standing, but he was no longer in the field. The Man blinked, looking around in confusion at his surroundings. He stood in the crossroads of a four way corridor. The same endless stone halls of the dungeon he'd awoken in. He was lost, and he was alone. The torches lining the walls burnt, flames flickering in the wind, but produced no light. Instead, the area was lit by the soft light of the moon. The Man turned his head upwards; there was no ceiling. He could feel a rushing wind, but everything was silent. The only sound to be heard was his own breathing.
He heard someone call out to him; a name he couldn't make out. He whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. The Man was no longer alone. In each corridor stood a figure, their features covered in shadow. Three men, and directly in front of him, a woman. She was crying. Her mouth moved as she spoke, but no words reached him. He knew her, but he couldn't recall who she was. The Man realized they were no longer in the crossroads.
The five of them stood on a wide flat plane made of smooth brown stone. They were inside a massive room made from featureless grey stone. The light was no longer from the moon, but from a glowing sphere hanging from the center of the area. He'd been here before; the plateau.
He opened his mouth to call out to her, to say her name, but whatever word he was about to form was swallowed up in a deafening that shook him to his bones. The entire plateau titled to one side like a sinking ship. His feet slipped out from under him as he starting sliding towards the edge. His hands scrabbled for anything to grab onto, but found nothing. Finally, he slid off the edge, into the void. The silence was replaced by a cacophony of screams as they fell. The four figures shimmered and died.
"Heads up." He heard, and something hard slammed into his gut.
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Noob rolled across the ground, flopping out of his sleeping roll in a heap. He quickly took to his feet. It was morning. He was starting to search for what had hit him when he was answered by an angry squeal as a boar rammed into him, throwing him onto his back. From there, he could see Devlin, sitting comfortably in the tree.
"Morning." He said, adding a fruit from a nearby branch to his inventory.
Before he could retort, the boar made to ram him again. It was nearly five feet long and came up to his waist. It was covered in filthy, matted brown fur, and had a pair of large upturned tusks. He reflexively struck out his foot, kicking it straight in the face and knocking it over. Noob searched the ground for his sword.
"Up here." Devlin called, tossing it to him from the tree.
Noob caught it and held it high, taking what felt like a familiar stance. The blade glowed green, and he struck the boar in a heavy downwards blow that halved its life bar. The boar squealed, trying to gore him on its tusks. Noob thrust his sword down its throat, and after a brief struggle, it shimmered and died. A congratulatory screen appeared, accompanied by the sound of slaw clapping from the tree.
Noob sheathed his falcata, shooting an angry glare up at Devlin. "A little warning would have been nice."
"I did. I said 'Heads up'" Devlin hopped down from the tree. "Besides, I had to make sure you weren't completely useless. Just a simple field boar; couldn't have hurt you much. How much health did you lose?"
Noob glanced at his health bar. "A little under a sixth. You couldn't have me try something after I'd gotten up?"
"This was much more educational. Entertaining, too." Devlin started folding up his tarp. "Ok, I think we're around the same level. Good."
"Glad I could provide some amusement." Noob replied sardonically.
"I said educational, too." Devlin had finished returning what little camp he'd made to his inventory and resumed his walk towards town, beckoning Noob after him. "You used a sword skill, so, even if you can't remember anything, you still know how to fight. You still have your muscle memory and reflexes."
Noob packed up his sleeping roll, sheathed his sword and grabbed his shield, attaching it to his left forearm. A few long strides caught him up to Devlin's side. He hadn't even thought about it before, but he could recall his dagger having a similar strange glow when he'd blocked an attack back in the dungeon.
"Which brings me to why it's important that you're not useless." Devlin continued. With a few taps and a flourish, he summoned a breakfast jerky from his inventory. "I might need you to watch my back when we get to town."
"Care to explain?" Noob prompted.
"Sure. You see, my icon is orange." Devlin said, jutting his thumb up over his head. "I want it to be green. Having an orange icon tends to make you unpopular. If I complete a quest, it'll go back to green, but if I get in any unwanted fights with another green player, then it'll be stuck orange forever. I might need you to rattle your sword if anyone wants to start something."
There was apparently a variety of colours that the floating icons came in, though their meaning was still lost on Noob.
"so, I'm replaying you by guarding you?" Noob asked. "What made your icon change in the first place?"
'I may have…instigated some unwanted fights. A green icon changes to orange if you perform some offence or…altercation with another green player. If you wait a little bit, it'll change back to green on its own for the first few times." Devlin explained. "If you do some fourth thing within that same time frame, it gets tuck orange. Only way to get it unstuck is to complete a quest of equal or greater value to your level. You do a fifth infraction, and there's no way to change it back."
Noob slowed his pace. "Wait, are you telling me you're some kind of criminal?"
"No. Sometimes shit just happens." Devlin said with a shrug. "Point is, if a green player attacks and orange player, they stay green, but if I end up fighting a green player like this, I get stuck. Sometimes green players want to feel like a hero, and since I can't defend myself until I get a quest done, I need you around for the time being."
"Like I said, I'm paying you by being your guard." Noon repeated.
"No, You're going to pay me by being my quest mule." Devlin stated.
The pair had almost reached the town's front gate. Two storey high stone walls made it impossible to see much of anything inside, apart from the tops of a few buildings. There were several players in view entering and exiting the settlement. Devlin stopped at an outcropping of rocks about half a kilometer from the town entrance.
"Y'see," He started, "quests can be found most anywhere in the game, but the vast majority of them are found in towns and cities. I'm sure you can spot the conundrum there. I need to complete a quest to be welcome into town, but I have to get into town to get said quest. We're gonna party up, and you're going to go into town and get me a quest."
"How will I do that?" Noob asked.
"Look for any NPC with an exclamation point above their heads. It'll be about where my icon is." Devlin took a seat on a waist high rock. "There might also be a bulletin board, but those are a bit more hit or miss. Just ask them how you can help, listen to their story, and accept the mission. It'll share it with me, we'll do the mission, I'll of course do all the work, and we'll be even."
Noob nodded. "Alright, that sounds simple enough."
"Great. Now, let's party up." Devlin opened his menu and opened the relevant tab. "Oh, right. Don't know your name. You invite me."
Noob opened his menu as directed and searched for the desired options. After a few moments, Devlin hopped off his rock and sidled up to his side. "It's right…here."
The tab that he was indicating had a greyed out colour to it, and refused to function.
"What the hell is this? Your friends tab is greyed out." Devlin took hold of Noob's hand and used it to scroll through the menus. "So are your trade and duel tabs. You don't even have a messaging tab. None of your social menus work."
"So, this isn't going to work?" Noob ventured.
"Shit!" Devlin reeled and kicked a stone into the distance. A couple players near the town entrance peered their way at the loud outburst. "Why are you so glitched out?!"
"Take that as a no." Noob answered himself.
Devlin paced a few steps back and forth. "Hang on, this can still work, more or less."
He opened his own menu and summoned a fist sized bag full of gold coins. "Ok, change of plans. Take this, go into town, and find a quest broker. They're players that act like professional mules; they collect quests, then party up and share them for coin."
Devlin sat back down on his rock. "Find a guy named Merlot; he's worked with red players before. He'll probably be in a tavern called MakiMori's. Short guy, kinda chubby, has black hair. Probably won't talk to you until you buy him a drink. Tell him to come out here. Just get me a quest, any quest, and we're square."
Noob took the offered bag of money. Taking a coin out, he saw it was a gold coin with the word 'Col' and a denomination of value stamped on it. He placed the bag into his pouch next to his remaining crystal and clasped it shut. He nodded, and started towards the town gate.
"I'll try not to take too long." He said.
"And don't bail on me." Devlin called out from behind him.
The idea had occurred to me. He thought. However, he had to admit to himself that it was his fault Devlin's previous escort had died, and he had guided him to safety as promised. Despite his misgivings about Devlin's possible unlawful status, he did owe it to him. It didn't seem like much to pay him back for saving his life with a simple errand.
"Don't worry, I won't" He answered over his shoulder.
The town gate had a large sign reading 'Sveltheim' written in red stone above it. Walking through, he flinched as a message suddenly appeared in his vision stating 'Inner Area'. Before he could wonder what that meant, it vanished. Once inside, he blended into the crowd and started his search for the tavern and the quest broker.
Hopefully this is so far sufficiently unterrible. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, hope you like it.