Real Life RPG (2 page)

“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.

I quickly dismissed the box from my view and put everything on minimize, it would do no good to have constant pop ups in my view. I walked away from the city still fuming about the situation I found myself in when I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and activated my interface and could see my opponent was a level 2 wolf puppy. I screamed at it to go away as it attacked. I kicked it hard, or so I thought as the puppy rolled a bit then came at me and bit my bare feet. The pain hurt a lot as a brought my staff down on its head, dazing it slightly before unleashing Decaying Rain. This was one of my go to spells, it took a little life away while corroding armor. The puppy shook it off and charged in and bit me again, it hurt even more and dropped me to one knee. I struck the dog again and could see it fall to the ground as I launched my other spell, Mists of no Reward. This would prevent any use of magic and slowly whittle away health. The puppy though was unimpressed, it used neither magic or had any armor as it bit me again. Normal players could not really feel pain but I could tell this was not the case with perma players. The bites hurt as I struck the puppy again then tried to limp away. I moved far to slow as I tripped, before I could get up I felt a sharp bite to the back of my neck, next thing I knew the sky went dark.

              I awoke at the spawn point, health at 10%. There were other players who had died, only a few of them were at level one. I would need to join some type of party if I wanted to level up, I just got eaten by a puppy which hurt my pride. I walked up and asked three players who shot be a dirty look until I remembered these were all condemned prisoners. I sighed and walked back to the prison gate when I felt a tug at my robe. I turned around to see someone of the warrior class, at least that’s what I thought since they were all in beginner’s armor.

              “You need help getting off this rock?” the small warrior said as I could tell he scanned me. This man was one of the little people which made me want to ask what he did to be condemned.

              “Yeah but I am too weak to fight anything” I said as I scanned him back.

“Well I am heading back out there to go grind, you are welcome to come with me” Gage said as he smirked. “I get 90% of all treasure found, take it or leave it”.

              I agreed and joined his party which really pissed me off he wouldn’t go 50/50 but I couldn’t afford to be choosy. I agreed and followed Gage back along the path where the wolf pup had killed me. It gave me the shiver as I heard another sound and could then see my conqueror come out of the under brush.

              “Okay whatever your name is” the tiny warrior said in a voice louder than was needed. I am going to go left to attack, stay behind me as I keep circling it”.

              The pup charged and bit Gage whose armor protected him mostly. Gage in return did a shield bash which dropped the puppy on its hind quarters, taking away ten points of the fifty point health bar. I came in while the pup was down and also struck, taking away another 20 points since my staff took half life points away. The puppy went after Gage again who blocked the attack easily then returned another attack which dropped the health by 15 points. The pup went to attack again as Gage blocked it easily then killed it in another stroke. The pup fell to its side and disappeared, in its place was a sack containing wolf puppy pelt and 2 coppers, both of which Gage pocketed.

              “I have never did this well going up against one of those things, it was like it couldn’t touch me, I was faster, hit harder and could defend better that I ever have” Gage said as I noticed he left me none of the treasure.