My freefall is suddenly arrested when I hit the ground. I slowly regain my vision and can once more sense the world around me. I stand up and dust of my clothes. Usually you rematerialize where you were standing before you teleported into the instance without any change in position. Finding myself flat out on the ground is a major surprise therefore, as is where I am.
Like in the Instance, I am surrounded by tall grass as far as I can see. The unending waves of plant matter are only broken by large hills of stone jutting up from the ground. Looking in my direct vicinity, I can see three other people from the instance, though I do not know any of them prior to then.
Where is Sarung? He must be around here somehwere. I wonder what happened. I'm nowhere near Ost Guruth…
I'm about to ask the others what happened when I see a small blue asterisk next to my name, indicating that I have a message. Hoping it is from Sarung, I pull up the messaging menu. My shoulders sag a little when I see that the message is not from him but is from the game-makers.
WARNING TO ALL PLAYERS. THE GAME HAS NOW BEEN ACTIVATED. NORMAL APPLICATIONS OF LIFE HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED.
ALL PLAYERS MUST FIGHT TO SAVE MIDDLE EARTH. THE ONLY WAY TO LEAVE IS TO MAKE IT TO MORDOR AND DEFEAT THE FINAL BOSS ON THE SLOPES OF MT. DOOM.
IMs, PLAYER DIRECTORY, AND MAPS HAVE BEEN DISABLED.
KINSHIPS ARE ALL DISSOLVED.
PAIN IS SET AT A MINIMAL SETTING.
CRAFTING ABILITIES ARE THE ONLY WAY TO OBTAIN WEAPONS AND ARMOR.
ALL NPCS AND THREATS ARE MOBILE AND INTELLIGENT.
IF YOU DIE, YOU ARE SENT BACK TO LEVEL ONE TO TRY AGAIN.
WELCOME TO REAL LIFE IN MIDDLE EARTH
The message disappears as soon as I have finished reading it.
"Things just got interesting." I say aloud.
The other three players are standing up now and are reading the messages as well.
"What a load of rubbish." One of them says, "All we have to do is log out."
She gets that spaced-out look every player does when they are accessing their menu. Her lute drops from her glowing Minstrel hands as her face goes white.
"The…the…the logout!...It's…gone!" she stutters and finally shouts.
Everyone voices their disbelief and we all check out menus to verify. Sure enough, the logout option is missing. There is no other way for a player to leave the game. Even dying will not log you out; just send you back to the starting area at level 1 to try to earn your way back up again. At least all of the beginner quests will be well learned by all of the players. I had died three times already at level 26 and I couldn't imagine having to start over after each death from scratch. Sarung had died only once as I was able to revive a dead fellowship member once every twenty minutes, which came in handy when we would become surrounded by too many creeps.
At the time, the highest level possible was 100 but the highest any player had gotten was level 47 and the game had been out for four months. The higher-level quests and battles were designed for players of top level to join in fellowships with other players to work as a team. Some of the largest battles required teams of 24 players to work together to succeed. A mix of healers, tanks, ranged, and dps classes were ideal for a large fellowship but getting enough players together at those levels were hard as everyone was on their own timing.
I am pulled out of my recall as the other players start to cry out in despair.
If they don't quiet down, they could attract all kinds of attention, and not of the good kind.
"Will you shut up and get a grip on yourselves." I say in a commanding tone.
They instantly quiet and I assume a leadership role.
"There is no time for us to lament our situation. I can see no way for us to get out of it any time soon so there is no reason to bemoan it. We need to find out where we are and move on from there. If we do not locate a town or other area of safety, we will have to camp out here on our own tonight. We have no clue as to what is around us or what dangers we may face. Like it or not this is our position right now. Everyone clear as to what we need to do?"
The other three nod their heads in silence. They seem willing enough to let me lead so I do. We begin hiking out towards what looks like a grove of trees in the distance.
The human male has shorter black choppy hair, as if a child took safety scissors to his head while he was sleeping. I catch a glimpse of light brown eyes verging almost to a caramel brown color. His stocky build makes him appear to be very muscular under his dark blue dyed heavy plated armor. He carries a tall Warden's shield of his right arm while both a javelin and long spear hang across his back like my staff does.
I look back behind me at the other man. He is an elf and seems to have chosen Mirkwood as his racial origin area. His long blonde hair comes a short ways past his shoulders and is partially pulled back with a small braid on each side. His lilting blue-grey eyes look stormy but also nice at the same time. A wide scar blazes across the left side of his face from the tip of his eyebrow to his prominent jawline. Many players think scars make them look fierce so they add them to their avatar. I think they just make the person look like they are careless and not the best of fighters if they had allowed a blade to come that close to finishing them off if this was real life. That draws my eyes down to the two long wicked looking swords strapped around his waist. I hope he is proficient in the use of those blades as we may need them sooner than I would like if trouble comes our way.
The third member of our little group is a Hobbit woman as she has no beard and barely comes up to my waist. Her hands are surrounded in a golden glow, marking her as a minstrel along with the large lute slung over her shoulder. She is an obvious red-head with flaming hair, deep green eyes, and a smattering of freckles across her face. The blazing hair is pulled back in a severe teacher-style bun that makes her seem out of place in this area with the rest of us having hair lowing in the wind. A small dagger dangles from her belt and I grimace at the thought of how little protection that would afford a normal person.
As we walk I decide to learn all I can about these players whom I may have to depend upon to save my life. I am also getting tired of the awkward silence that has settled in since no one will say anything as we go.
"Since we will probably be fighting together for a while, we might as well get acquainted." I say first. "I'm Taurieth, Level 26, Lore Master, Explorer crafter."
"Erothar. Level 24. Warden. Armorer craft." Says the human player.
He could be good in a fight. He seemed to be the quietest when he read the message.
"Needyfishies. Level 28. Minstrel. Yeoman crafter." Replies the Hobbit.
Peculiar name, but then again I've seen and heard of worse. It isn't a requirement for them to use Middle Earth names when you make a player avatar.
The third person, the elf, had yet to reply; and was only looking at the ground as we walked.
"What about you?" I ask as politely as I can.
"Baronlief. Level 22. Champion. Tinker craft." He says in a surprisingly deep yet very quiet voice.
Tinker is an interesting choice. His level is a bit low, but maybe he is just a newer player.
"There, now we all know each other; at least as much as we need to." I say.
Everyone else just walks in silence, only looking out at the horizon to see if they can spy something that can tell us where we are.
As the hours drag on, I would be happy enough to just find a road. Roads lead to towns or cities where we can figure out where we are at and find a place to stay where it is safe. Night falls and we are no closer to finding a place to stay. Erothar and I locate a depression in the land that might give us at least some shelter for the night. No one has a skill to build a fire, which is good since I would not want to risk an open flame in these grasslands nor in possibly dangerous territory. Erothar elects to take the first watch and I gladly let him. I lay my staff next to me and use my arm as a pillow against the grass. I am thankful for my cloak as it helps to keep out the night breeze that has yet to cease blowing since we arrived here, wherever here is.
I do not know where you are, Sarung, but I will try to find you. We will be together again. Soon.
Baronlief wakes me up a few hours before sunrise, giving me the last watch of the night. Nothing has happened so far, and I hope it stays that way. Baronlief is out cold as soon as his head touches the ground and he softly snores away. I scan the area around us and wait for the sun to rise. The wind died down at some point during the night and I can hear the sound of water flowing not too far off.
Once the sun comes up we should head to the source of the water surely we will be able to find someone if we follow the path of the water.
I watch the sunrise break over the distant hills and am filled with happiness as I watch the glowing orb of the sun appear. I gently try to wake the others, but Needyfishies seems content to stay and snore the day away. I pull out a piece of grass and start to tickle her ear with it. She bats it away and murmurs as she tries to roll over.
"I don't think that will do the trick on her Taur." Baronlief says.
"Then you try something, we can't wait all day for her to get up." I reply curtly.
With a smile, Baronlief draws his sword and grabs Erothar's shield. He stands next to Needyfishies and raises the sword over the shield. With a mighty shout the yells and slams the sword repeatedly on the shield. I quickly cover my ears, as does Erothar. Needyfishies bolts upright with a scream and stands there panting. Baronlief stops his clamoring and hands Erothar back his shield with a small smile.
"What was that for?" Needyfishies retorts.
"You were asleep. Taurieth said you needed to wake up for us to move on. I woke you up." Baronlief replies to her before turning to me. "Now what do you want us to do?"
I shake my head and laugh.
"Not quite what I was anticipating, but I guess it worked. I think I can hear a stream off to the north. We should head that way and see if we can find where it leads. If there is anyone in this area, they should have the same idea and if not the river should come near a road or city where we can get information."
"That is a sound plan." Erothar says, "Lead on Taur."
I take the lead and we head north. We have not gone far when I hear Needyfishies stomach growl loudly.
"I guess we do need to eat food now," she says with a groan. "and I haven't got any."
"Here." I say as I pull a stack of Dale Men's Crams out of my item bags. "I've got almost a whole stack of these. They taste terrible, but at least it should state the hunger for a while."
Needyfishies accepts a few of the hard biscuits as do Erothar and Baronlief. I take three to eat and place the rest back into my bags. The dry bread crumbles in my mouth and makes me wish for a drink. We munch on the food while we walk towards the sound of flowing water. The sun is almost directly overhead when we stumble upon our target. A small stream runs over a pebbled bed, glittering in the sunlight. All four of us stop and quickly kneel down by the water's edge to drink from the refreshing water. Once we all have stated out thirst we group up and decide where we want to go next: upstream or downstream.
"Upstream looks like it goes into the hills, and we cannot see anything between here and there." Baronlief says.
"Downstream looks like it could just run out into a pool though. Where will we be then?" Needyfishies chimes in.
"We can decide then just as easily as we can if it dead ends upstream." I reply. "No matter which way we choose, we will have a supply of water and food for a while which is all that matters for now."
"I say we go downstream." Erothar says. "It slopes downhill and I don't feel like hiking uphill when we can just as easily follow the water down a gentle slope."
"True. Uphill it is?" Baronlief asks.
"Works for me. What do you say Needy?" I ask.
"Looks like I am outnumbered." She replies.
"There is no being outnumbered here, just opinions." I say.
"Walking downhill is easier than walking up and keeping up with the three of you with your long legs is hard enough as it is." She decides.
"That settles it then. We will follow the water as it flows downstream and see what we can find." I say and we head out.
The ground next to the water is flat and easy to walk on. It is easy going and we make good time. We had not yet met with any creatures or monsters yet which troubles me. Usually there are dozens of enemies scattered through the landscape no matter where you are in the game. Now that our minimaps are gone I have no radar with which to know the position of any enemies. I should be able to see them just fine, but one can ever truly be sure.
As if to validate my fears on monsters, a wolf appears through the grass. There is no way to know what level it is at, or even if the leveling system still works for attacking things. Everyone draws their weapons and engages the beast. Erothar uses his shield to keep it back while Baronlief slashes at the wolf with his swords. Needyfishies is strumming stuns on her lute and I summon a single bolt of lightning with my staff. The bolt hits the animal on the side and it stumbles but keeps attacking. I strike the beast with the end of my staff while Erothar and Baronlief use their weapons as well.
A final stroke from Erothar's javelin finishes off the beast as we all rest and pant. Needyfishies strums a few chords on her lute and Erothar's morale refills since he had taken the brunt of the damage on his shield. I use my own healing ability to help Baronlief refill his morale as well. I was fine since I had stayed back for the most part and not received any damage. I check my XP status and see that that wolf gave me 144 points. That means it must have been just above my level, or it just gives that much. I wasn't able to select the animal since that ability seems to be gone, so there is no telling what level anything is anymore. You can only see the health bar and measure its progress as you hack away.
We continue making progress along the water, killing things as they appear. My XP soars as we go, increasing by at least 144 up to even 215 on some kills. Mostly we find wolves, but there have been a few wargs and orcs along the way. This must be a higher-level area for me to be doing that well. Everyone gets into a rhythm as we fight, working as a team to ensure success with minimal damages taken along the way. We all seem to be enjoying this distraction as we walk as it is better than our usual unbroken wandering.
Baronlief levels up and we all congratulate him on reaching level 23. I check my loot every once and a while, but only take the essences I find. Usually only humanoid creatures give armor and weapons while creatures give task materials and sometimes essences. Every once and a great while a player can find a rare item drop, but only very rarely. A few ore deposits cross our paths and Baronlief or Erothar mine the rock for ore pieces that they can use to make ingots for weapons or jewelry. The deposits are of various levels all in the same area, so it gives us no hint as to our location. Sometimes the deposits will even give shards or other crafting items along with pieces of ore. Everyone helps to share the items so that no one will fill their bags too quickly.
We continue on this way for the rest of the day and make camp next to the water. Night falls and I take the first watch as everyone else sleeps. I had leveled up twice today, so I sorted out my new skills granted for reaching level 28. I can now summon a lightning storm that will send bolts into all enemies within a certain distance of my target. It deals much more damage than my previous lightening attack did and I cannot wait to try it out. It is a warm night so I do not feel any chill as I stand and walk quietly around the camp. My time ends as sentry and I wake Erothar to take his turn. My head hits my bedroll and I am instantly asleep as I know I am safe with my companions to guard me.