Starting Day

I snap my head up as a horn bleats out a message across the city, paruuum paruuum. It repeats twice more before fading into silence. Four bleats means a warning for the occupants of the city...enemies are approaching!

I quickly finish trading out my loot for money and glance around the dimly lit room. Various merchants and people obscure my vision as they go about their business buying and selling goods from this small indoor market. Finally, I see a man standing next to the weapons merchant on the other side of the room. A large wooden Guardian's shield rests on his left forearm and a new one-handed blade is gripped tightly in his right hand. He looks over at me and I nod as I walk away from the task giver's table. The man hands over some coins to the merchant and joins me as we walk out of the market and onto the street. We step out into the sunlight and his long teal, silver, white, and black cape swirls around us a light breeze blows through the small village. His cosmetic outfit matches the cape and fits his trim athletic form very nicely. His slightly past shoulder length, dark brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail with a worn strip of leather, framing a handsome human face.

"What do you think the threat is this time?" he says. "Mauraders? Goblins? Orcs?"

"I have heard stories of orcs being seen in these areas." I reply, "But one never knows until the enemies appears."

"The Orcs do seem to grow bolder as we travel farther away from Bree." The man tells me as we quickly walk through the streets towards the main gates. "Maybe they have decided that they want to surrender to our overwhelming might and prowess."

"They are more prominent here because we are advancing into harder areas as we level up, Sar." I reply.

The man, Sarung, smiles and shakes his head.

"I was trying to have some fun with you." He replies.

"You'll have to try harder than that." I say, giving him a smile in response.

We turn around a corner and meet up with some other fighters along with a few other players who happen to be in the area. We greet one another and I take a quick assessment of the group's strengths and weaknesses as we walk. There are two Hunter class players and a Minstrel class here besides Sarung and me. The Hunters can do ranged damage and the Minstrel can do healing magic if needed. It is a fairly well balanced group and we should easily be able to face whatever is causing the alarm to be sounded.

Everyone walks the rest of the way together and discusses strategies on how to arrange ourselves outside the wall surrounding the village. I summon my lynx companion, Espresso, to my side. His pelt is almost black with a few flecks of white in it. Espresso is the smaller of my two pets, the other being a bear, but he can deal damage over time. We already have a few tank players with us to take the brunt of the damage, so the lynx is a better option for this fight. All of my pets guard me or can be told to be aggressive against any foes in the area.

I glance up towards my right and see my name and morale and power bars displayed there. Just under my name is Espresso's bars along with our combined buffs and debuffs. I also see Sarung's name hovering just below Espresso's with his status as well. At level 25 I have just over 1,000 morale points while he, at level 26, has almost 2,000. I can make up for some, if not all, of this difference by using pets like Espresso. Unlike my morale, however, my power capacity is greater than his is. This is normal for the Lore Master class. I have the ability to use magic to fight my enemies instead of a sword or shield so I go through much more power in a shorter time span. Sarung's Guardian class is a tanking class designed to take the brunt of the damage as he fights on the forefront of the battle to engage the enemies with his shield and do light damage while others deal heavier blows.

It is interesting to be in a virtual world that is so different from the real one. The two of us make a good team, and have been fighting side by side since he began this game a few days ago. We are dating in real life and he decided to join me in the game. It has been a couple of days of play for him so far though I have been playing for two months already. I waited for him to catch up a bit in levels so we could take on the same regions and both receive XP. Otherwise, if we were in an area at my level he wouldn't be able to deal any damage for a while or I would not receive any XP in areas at his level.

Once he was at a close enough level, we joined up in Bree and had moved south and east into the Lone Lands along the main road. Between the two of us, we were quickly finishing the quests and deeds given to us by the NPCs in the area. The times when we are constantly running back and forth delivering messages are very annoying, but the XP is we gain is worth it in the end.

I remember those easy times well as I activate all of my combat buffs and debuffs as well as set Espresso's status to guard mode for both Sarung and myself. Now that we were deep in the Lone Lands, the monsters and creatures we face are harder to take out since everything requires several hits to kill them. I hope that this group of enemies will not be too large; else, someone might end up dying and have to be ported to the safe zone a few minutes run away from our current position. That places more stress on our fight as we would be down a player and would have to try to keep fighting while we wait for them to run back to the fight. Sometimes the portals are nearby and other times they transport you halfway across the map.

We reach the main gates and all of the players take up a defensive stance towards the middle of the group of fighters with Sarung standing in front and to the left of me. His cape stirs gently in the breeze and wraps itself around his ankle. I tap him on the shoulder with my staff and indicate his ensnared foot. Sarung smiles and thanks me for letting him know as he bends down to untangle himself. At least I will not have that problem as I had the mind to keep my long caramel colored hair in a braid down my back so it will not get in my way as I fight. Like Sarung, I have left my cosmetic clothing equipped as most of the time the armor we wear looks ridiculous on a player's avatar. It doesn't look like I have any armor on, but it is still there in that it will protect me and give me the buffs I had worked into them by the tailor who crafted them for me. I prefer to stay in my black trousers and dark red shirt over the long robe that currently composes my armor. Sometimes I also wear a long black cloak, but the end can become wrapped around me or my staff and make fighting harder. The pants are much easier to move around in and when I wear the black hooded cloak, I look both dangerous and mysterious.

I scan the area ahead of us and my elf eyes catch a slight movement over the top of the hill across the road from our defensive position. I can make out the glint of a dozen or so helms as the afternoon sun glints off the metal. I call out a warning to everyone, review my list of skills, and add a few last minute buffs to my morale and power. Around a dozen orcs crest over the ridge opposite and bear down upon us as they quickly cross the road. They yell and shake their weapons as they come, trying to intimidate us into fleeing from the village.

The orcs out front are swiftly cut down by arrows released from the two Hunters' bows while the rest are quickly engaged by the NPCs in front carrying shields. I select several of the enemies nearby and raise my staff above my head. Lightening arcs down from a clear sky and touches the shard in the tip of my staff before breaking into six smaller bolts. Each branching streaks out to touch an orc and they are obliterated in a flash of electricity and fire.

A second and much larger wave of enemies launches themselves over the ridge towards us and I have a feeling that something is wrong. None of the packs of monsters ever moves like this unless you are in a special Instance. Even then, you are usually warned where the enemies are at. I send out Espresso to engage a few of the orcs while I lighten Sarung's load and take out three of the four orcs battering his shield. He finishes the fourth one off and gives me a quick sword salute in thanks before returning to the fray. Espresso leaps around and weaves his way between the fighters. He slashes at the legs of orcs and bites down limbs and throats as he can find purchase.

That little cat is a vicious fighter. He almost makes this too easy.

I feel a slight prickling sensation in my neck and instinctively turn around. I barely manage to duck under an orc sword as it curves towards my head. I bring up my staff and bat the sword away at the last second before bringing the base of the staff down hard across its face. Espresso returns to my side and slashes at the stunned orc before biting down on its neck until it moves no longer. I glance around for more enemies to engage, but it seems that the last of the orcs are being herded up and finished off by the NPCs.

"Twas a good fight, Taurieth." Sarung says to me after he twirls sword around and sheaths it.

"They do grow too bold for my liking." I reply, sheathing my staff in its holder across my back. "Still. It was only a small party. Nothing this city couldn't normally handle on its own."

"How much XP did you gain?"

I check my leveling bar.

"About 5,000. How did you do?"

"Almost 5,500 here." He replies after a quick spaced-out pause. "Makes it only 10,000 to the next level."

"That's good. Have those orcs come back twice more and you will be at level." I say with a smile.

"How much do you need to level up?"

I am about to reply when I notice that one of the orcs nearby is still twitching. I quickly bring my staff down upon his skull and the XP adds to my bar. A white beam of light surrounds me and my level changes from 25 to 26.

"That." I reply with a large grin.

"Cool." Sarung replies, his dark green eyes twinkling.

Sarung begins searching through his pending loot for anything of use to us. The other three players wave their goodbyes and start to head off in their separate directions. I walk over to the scorched circles, which are all that remain of those who had fallen to my lightening. Espresso sniffs the areas before rubbing across my legs as he flits in and out of visibility. I press my hand against his flank and heal his slightly depleted power even though I know it will replenish itself in a few minutes.

Those orcs were acting peculiarly. I have never seen them come in waves at a group of defenders before. They usually stay in a very predictable area or maintain a pattern of spawning. There is usually also a quest or skirmish that causes them to attack in such large numbers, but no one had an active quest for that area. Then again, I haven't done much exploring around here. Maybe the game-makers have different patterns set up in different areas to enhance gameplay. That would create more interest and add an element of surprise to the game if each area was unpredictable.

I finish my internal analysis of the attack as I walk towards the hilltop to make sure no more orcs are coming. I am just about to reach the road when I feel the vibrations of hoof beats shaking the ground beneath my feet. I look up the road and see a dust cloud growing in the distance. I use my elven sight to peer down the road and can almost make out individual riders. I can't tell if they are friend or foe and am about to call out a warning to Sarung about the approaching riders when I feel the tug of an Instance teleport pull at my back.

I didn't select an Instance and I didn't receive a request to join Sarung in one either. What is going on?

I am just able to register this thought before the world goes dark and I feel that pull at my being as I am teleported to a different location in the game.

My vision swirls and I feel solid ground beneath my feet once more. The world swims into focus and I stagger around for balance. Rain falls lightly onto my face and a gust of wind pulls at my cloak. I pull up the hood and make sure my staff is still in its holster on my back. Weapons don't usually disappear in teleport, but I am always careful to reassure myself that it is still there whenever I materialize somewhere. None of my skills work without my staff and I don't have a spare in my item storage bags at the moment.

I really should remember to keep extras of my staff and armor in case my current ones become damaged in a fight. That would allow me to be able to stay alive longer and keep me playing without porting to a safe circle.

I make a mental note to save some gear next time I am near an armor dealer before taking stock of my current predicament. I am surrounded by dazed players who are all waist deep in tall grass. I see the three players from the Lone Lands who had fought with Sarung and I earlier but the other seven players I do not recognize. I happen to be standing atop a large boulder and can see Sarung coming too in a crumpled heap just below me. I hop down and help him to stand up as I try to figure out where we are at.

"Blasted headache." He says as he places a hand on the boulder to steady himself. "What was that, Taurieth?"

"Instance I guess." I reply, not entirely sure.

"I didn't pull one up. Did you?"

I shake my head.

So if neither of us called the Instance, then how did we end up in one?

I climb back up the boulder and try to peer through the falling rain at our surroundings. I can see waves of blowing grass in every direction as if we were in some sort of prairie or highland area. The Lone Lands have short grass for the most part, but I think I remember Rohan was to have tall grass in its landscape. There are no buildings or other people in sight, so I am really beginning to wonder why there would be an instance here. Maybe the game had developed a bug, which is causing the dysfunctional Instance.

One of the other players, a Captain class I believe, calls out to the group. A hobbit NPC appeared in front of him with the details of our task.

"Many goblins have been seen around here of late, and they threaten to undermine the safety of the people." He says

What people? There is no one around.

"The twelve of you must band together to defeat our foes. If any should falter we will face almost certain defeat."

If having eleven players means failure, I don't see how one more can help all that much.

Most Instances are of one of two categories. You either defend a position against an assailing force or are to be the assailing force to attack an enemy stronghold. Defense is an easy enough task once you know where the enemies are coming from. Out here though, they could come from any and all directions. There are no defenses available besides each other. If we should be attacked on multiple fronts, it could go badly for us.

I scramble back up onto the top of the boulder so that I may have clear sight around us. I'll also be able to attack on any side and be able to heal everyone as well. The other players seem to understand my logic and arrange themselves in a circle around me with the NPC standing somewhere in the midst. I scan the perimeter and take up a ready position with my staff held across by body.

Espresso had been dismissed during the teleport so I call him back out. This time I tell him to be aggressive so he will attack anything that is deemed as a threat. He will be able to assist anyone in taking out a foe, which will make our jobs a bit easier. A few other pets appear from the two Captain classes and everyone is able to call upon their skirmish soldier to aid them in the battle. Our numbers increase from twelve players to have an additional twelve soldiers, two lynx (Espresso and another Lore Master's cat), and three banner guards from the three Captains present.

The first few creeps spawn and the goblins begin to mount their attack. Most of the other players are also above the level of the goblins and have no trouble dispatching them with ease. I assist with a sticky gourd throw that envelops several goblins in fire. A second wave of enemies appear and I am very surprised to see a few Angmarim join the goblins against us.

Why are there Angmarim with the goblins? They are men from the north. They don't usually go in the same areas as the goblins do. Unless we are much farther away from the Lone Lands than I had previously thought.

I push my thoughts aside and turn my attention to Sarung and a few players in engaging a group of 12 enemies. Fire rains down as I throw gourds and summon flames around them. The falling rain does nothing to put out the burning embers and the goblins quickly die. Espresso slashes and bites at the enemies as well, finishing off many as their morale drops. They men keep coming from all directions and the players are starting to feel the effects of the long battle.

I stop attacking for a few minutes and begin to heal several of the players around me. Some need power more than morale so I oblige and use my Share the Power skill to give them a boost. Using that skill costs morale on my part, but I drink an athelas potion to ward off my dropping health. There are so many men and goblins assailing us that the players cannot engage everyone and evade the worst of the damage. It is taking a massive toll and I can tell some of the players are starting to wear out.

I look down at Sarung and see he is still trying to go at it strong. His shield is taking a major beating though and I fear it may lose its integrity at any moment. I run a quick diagnostic on all of my equipment and see that nothing is close to being compromised and that my armor is still in peak durability. This helps me to make the decision to throw myself into the fray to try to deal some more damage to the enemies.

Leaping down, I stand shoulder to shoulder with Sarung and swing my staff at the helms of the Angmarim he is fighting. This gives Sarung enough time to power up an attack and shield bash the man into oblivion. We turn as one unit and engage the next enemy, a short goblin with a spear. Sarung catches the first spear throw on his shield and I zap the goblin with lightning as well as with a flaming gourd for good measure. The flames that erupt from the gourd engulf five other goblins as well and deal damage to each one of them. Espresso runs over and quickly finishes off the other burning ones and comes to stand by my side.

The sounds of fighting begin to fade away a while later as the third and final wave of enemies appears and is finished off. The NPC made it through the battle and he congratulates everyone before giving each player a choice of essences as their reward. I claim the athelas essences for myself as I rarely need more power but back up morale is always nice to have on hand.

I place the essences in my bags and pull up my list of pending loot. There are several task items available, but I am at full capacity for the groups they give reputation for. I could take them to a provisioner and receive silver coins for them if I had the extra bag space. I loot the essences and crafting scrolls there, and am surprised to see an adamant shard available. Shards of gemstones are used for crafting higher-level items and usually only drop from named bosses. I hadn't seen any bosses in the fight, but Espresso may have fought one with another player giving me the shard. I dismiss the other loot and add the items I took to my bags.

I will need find a bank here soon. My bags are almost full and could do with being emptied into my vault. Sarung is probably in the same way.

As if he could read my mind, Sarung comes over once he has finished looting the items he wants.

"I think we should go find a vault as soon as we are back. My bags are almost full. How are you doing on bag space?"

"I have about five slots open still, but the other four bags are filled." I reply.

"Then a vault is needed." He says with a smile. "Don't want you to be completely out of room."

"Like that ever happens." I say genuinely. I usually am able to empty my bags often enough that I never get them full.

The other players begin to disappear as they leave the instance. I select the NPC and request to travel out. I stand there waiting for the instance teleport to return me to the village where Sarung and I had been at before. The nearest vault to that area was in Bree, but we could run that far in a few minutes or summon our horses if we want to go faster. Sarung had won a beautiful Pale Summer horse from a gift box that was a golden honey color with a sharp looking bridle and saddle. I had chosen my horse from a similar box I had received. It was called a Red Skeleton horse and was black in color with the outline of bones painted on in red paint. It had no saddle or bridle so I rode bareback. When I rode the horse I felt extra intimidating as my cloak would flap behind me and my face would be obscured by the hood. Sarung's horse was nice, but I preferred mine since it was also a bit faster.

Thinking about my horse pulls my thoughts back to those riders I had spotted coming towards the city in the Lone Lands before we were whisked away into the instance. I hope they are other players or are friendly; else, we could be appearing in the midst of a battle. It had happened before, but it was always nerve wracking as you were disoriented as to what is going on. You never know how much damage you have already taken and can end up with only a few hits worth of morale before you are dead.

I feel the slight tug in my gut and steel myself to prepare for whatever may happen when we arrive. The world around me starts to blur away and I watch as Sarung's body starts to fade out next to me as well. My last view of him is of his smile before the world fades to black and I am falling once more.