“Oy! They spotted us! Gut ‘em! Gut ‘em like dogs!” said a harshly guttural voice. The figures which had shown up as red dots all climbed atop the plateau and charged at the two. They were dressed like ruffians and beggars from an old bygone era. They looked almost like pirates, except in that they had no fine clothing, but rather rough-spun tunics of blue and red. They wielded sharp scimitars in their hands, and the words Level 2 Pirate hung over each of their heads.
“Alright, we can do this!” Van shouted as he threw a few darts, missing them.
“I’ve got this!” Sang cried as she loosed some arrows. She hit the first one, the leader whom she had hit before, and saw him get knocked down with a mere 10 damage. They advanced quickly.
“I’ll try a different strategy!” Van said once he was out of darts. There was a tall skinny pirate charging him, but he managed to dodge out of the way and unhooked his bagpipes. He deftly put the pipes to his mouth and began to bleat.
“Oh, that is horrid!” Sang cried out, unable to cover her ears due to the fact that she was holding a bow in her hands.
“I’m inspiring you!” Van shouted as he dodged another attack. “It’ll increase your damage!”
“How? By making me not fear death?” she cried out as she loosed another arrow, this time aiming at the pirate who was trying to kill Van, although with the noise he was making, she wondered if maybe him being stabbed wasn’t the worst possible thing that could happen. The arrow whooshed right into the side of the pirate. CRITICAL!!!! 100 Damage! popped out above the pirate as he fell to the ground, dead.
“Wow!” she said, pausing to admire her handiwork.
“Behind you!” Van shouted just before he blared into his bagpipes again. The screeching was so intense that it was beginning to make her nauseous. Still, she spun around and managed to dodge the attack. The words YOU ARE INSPIRED flared in front of her and she felt a surge of power rush through her as she dropped her bow and grabbed her longsword. She cut and slashed away, blocking blows from the pirates before effectively killing them both. The last one had run away because of the fear effect that the bagpipes had been creating. At least, she assumed it was a fear effect and not the AI developing self-awareness just in time to spare it from such noise.
“We did it!” Van said. “This is gonna load us up with experience points!”
Sang looked at her experience bar and watched as it rapidly climbed up to the 1,000 range. It reached the 1,000 and suddenly she was surrounded by fireworks and confetti. “LEVEL UP!” cried a voice.
She grinned as she looked at her options and put a few more points into the Map skill. That seemed like a solid choice to her.
She frowned once she finished increasing her skills. “Wait a second,” she said. “I thought our levels increased due to teamwork or questing?”
“Yeah, well, we used some good teamwork there! I used my powerful bard skills and you did all the heavy lifting. But the most important part is that we both got the same level of experience since we’re a team.”
“That hardly seems fair since I killed all of them,” Sang protested.
“Yeah, but I boosted your damage and gave you courage. It’s a team effort in this game. You’ll find that you can’t really make it alone here. You’ve got to have a good team, and this game rewards players who work together. It’s easy stuff, for certain, but teamwork counts for a lot.”
Sang nodded, as she could at least understand the underlying principle. “Well, good job. I hope you were able to sufficiently increase your character’s skills.”
“Oh yeah, I put some points into ventriloquism!” Van said. This elicited a strong laugh from her. “What?” he asked, frowning. “I wasn’t joking.”
Chapter Seven
Sang grimaced as they entered the tavern. The first one had been bad enough, but this one, The Waltzing Clydesdale, was somehow of even worse quality. The smells were atrocious, the entire place reeked of fish, and the patrons were all weird-looking. Most of them were missing various limbs and stared at the pair as they entered. Van didn’t seem to care either way, though, as he boldly stood atop one of the tables.
“Greetings! It is I, Semimodo the Bard! I wish to regale this town with song, dance, and perhaps even a jig!” he shouted. The dark tavern didn’t offer much of a reaction. Everyone sat glumly instead, just watching him. The place was poorly lit, too, and Sang could barely make out anyone’s facial expressions.
“Get down,” Sang hissed. “I don’t think this is the place for liveliness.”
“Silence, wench! Allow me to use my powerful Ballad skill!” Van said. “Ahem...
Tis Fair and Free in this Land
And Music Good and Never Bland
That Love and Freedom fare thee well
And happiness comes from the sound of a bell!”
Sang shrugged. It wasn’t glorious poetry, but wasn’t half bad. She was just about to open her mouth to compliment him when the bleating and blaring sound of a hideous shrieking noise startled her. She instinctively looked around for the fabled Ocean Cult, but realized it was nothing more than Van playing the bagpipes. The crowd laughed and clapped for him, oddly enough. She could barely understand what was going on, but she wasn’t one to question it. Not at this point anyway.
Wanting to blend in, she sat down at table and glanced around. There were Orcs, Elves, and even Dwarves, and they were all rough looking people. There was a bitterness in their eyes and a fierceness in their expressions that showed they weren’t the kinds of people who would handle any kind of goofing off. They seemed to enjoy the bard’s performance, but she wasn’t sure if they were just programmed to respond to a successful skill check or not.
“And now, I shall need a volunteer!” Van announced, holding a dart in his hand. A Dwarf raised his hand. “Good! You, sir, would you be so kind as to put this apple atop your head?” Van requested as he extended a bright red piece of fruit to the Dwarf, who then balanced it on his head precariously.
Sang was genuinely impressed with the level of interaction in this tavern. It seemed that there was far more personality within these NPCs than there’d been at the tavern back in the tutorial area. She watched with a smile... until she slowly began to realize what Van was going to do. He was going to try and throw the dart into the apple.
“Van… er, Semimodo,” Sang said, trying to get his attention.
“For, you see, reflexes are all about the flick of the wrist!” Van shouted as he threw the dart at full speed. It completely missed the Dwarf and sank into the calf of a Minotaur who had been standing at the bar. It turned around and bleated a horrific sound.
“He’s right!” said one of the patrons in response to the creature’s cry. “Let’s teach him a lesson he’ll never forget!” And as if they were coordinated, all of the characters in the bar stood up at once and faintly began to glow red, indicating that they were now enemies.
“Aw, dangit, I guess some people don’t like good old fashioned slapstick!” Van said as he leapt to avoid getting punched by the Dwarf that was closest to him.
“Hey, get away from him!” Sang shouted as she shoved herself in front of the idiot bard and began to punch away at the assailants. She could see the damage popping up above their heads—5 DAMAGE! 5 DAMAGE! 4 DAMAGE! It was pretty low because she was using her fists, but that didn’t stop her from swinging away. She was in such close proximity to all of these ruffians that it was impossible for her to dodge any of the blows herself, though, and she watched as her health bar slowly shrank down. They were all unarmed, hitting her with fists and steel gloves.