Sang was impressed with how into his character the guy could get. While she didn’t particularly like anything about Van’s life choices, he was slowly starting to grow on her.
“Hmmm, fine... you play the song first and then the map afterwards,” said Abigar. Van stepped back and took out his bagpipes.
“I shall now regale you all with “The Song of Bravery”! Guaranteed to increase your Strength by +5 for the next 24 hours! Ahem!
There was a band of brave knaves
Who knew not fear nor terror
They cut, battled and fought
Without stumble nor error
But what was a brave knave without his friend, Whiskey?
Who convinced them to take matters they saw most risky
They’d drink away, To save the day
And wake up without a single memory!
This elicited laughter from the group of players and they all cheered. Sang braced herself as Van pulled out his trusty bagpipes and began to bleat. AIIIGHHHHH AIGHHHHHH AIGHHHH the pipes screamed as he tried to play them as loudly as he could. This brought out a lot more laughter from the other players. Sang gave a sigh of relief when she saw that they were laughing at the noise instead of turning violent, like most everyone else did.
“Enough, bard and jester! You have earned our map!” said Abigar as he pulled out a parchment of paper. “Take it! Take it and find the secrets to reaching Verrata!”
“Thanks!” Van said as he tried to backflip away from them, but just ended up doing a full-on face-plant into the ground. This caused more laughter as the party walked off.
“Nice work,” Sang said as she helped Van up. “You really know how to make players laugh.”
“Well, my old party really loved that kind of stuff; just stupid stuff that wasn’t really witty, but more slapstick. I noticed my buddy wasn’t with them, though.”
“Who?” Sang asked as she glanced at the map. Her advanced skills allowed her to easily determine the safest route to the kingdom of Verrata.
“He was a paladin named Trefor. You think I was bad, that guy was on 24/7. He’s either dead from a Cwake overdose or went pro, from my guess. There’d be no other reason he wasn’t with the group,” Van ventured.
“Makes sense, I suppose,” Sang said. “So, is there some spot of special interest in this kingdom?”
“Yes! The players nicknamed it the Cave of Visions. It’s only this stupid bear cave, but one of the players found some kind of crazy glitch and then, next thing you know, players were flocking from all over to see the glitches in hopes of getting some free gear or something. Apparently, the caves were all contorted and crystalline... a lot different from a bear cave. Some people thought it was some kind of expansion that hasn’t been released for the game yet, but which was accidentally made accessible. From everything you’ve been telling me about glitches, it’s gotta be the perfect place for your research. If there is any kind of... you know, alien stuff... that’s gonna be the spot.”
Sang nodded, gripping the map. She could see there were dozens of red areas with the words ‘wild’ on them.
“What does ‘wild’ mean? Why is some of the road covered in a red splotch?” Sang asked.
“Oh, yeah. Wild areas mean you’re perfectly free to kill other players without being labeled a bandit. They’re some of those crazier spots where there is no law. So, in order to get to the kingdom of Verrata, we’re going to have to move through the Great Jungle of Sorrow. I’m not going to lie, it’s a pretty rough area to get through alive. Lots of players have built up little camps into the wild zones and consider themselves to be rulers and kings. So, if we get found by one of those people, they might kill us or try to enslave us.”
“Enslave us?” Sang asked. “How?”
“Powerful magic. Trust me, it sucks. So, whatever route we’re going to take, we’ve got to be careful.”
Sang glanced at the roads. The map display appeared in front of her, showing her the different paths.
Path One: Road of Sorrow. By taking this road, you will make it quickly, but must pass through the heart of the wild zone. Chance for encounter: 99%. Recommended leveclass="underline" 15
Path Two: The Griffin King’s Lair. A crazed man who has tamed Griffin lives within a treetop home in the jungle, and if you convince him, he may loan you a Griffin to fly to Verrata. Recommended leveclass="underline" 7
Path Three: Guts and Glory. Going off the road is a dangerous job, but there is a lot of treasure to be had. Encounter chance: ????? Recommended leveclass="underline" ????
“Hmmmm,” Sang sounded out loud as she looked at the choices. They were still only level 5 due to the fact that the sheriff quest hadn’t paid out. “What’s the best way to go?”
“Well, if you ask me, I think the Griffin King. Going off the road is insane, and the Road of Sorrow will have too many high-level players waiting for us. Getting to the Griffin King won’t be easy due to the level requirement, but it is doable,” Van said.
“Alright, then that’s the plan,” Sang said as she grabbed her bow and began marching towards where the jungle would be. “We’re going to find the Griffin King and get a Griffin.”
“Great!” Van said as he trudged along after her. “See? You’re getting into this game hardcore now!”
“I’m just trying to focus on the best way to play,” Sang said.
“Exactly! See, being a gamer is all about learning how to think on your feet, overcome challenges, and improve yourself. In a lot of ways, it’s the exact same as real life, except this is far more fun.”
“The problem is, Van, that your progress stays in here, in the game. All of the muscles that you think you’re developing are only online. When you try to fell a tree in real life, you won’t be strong enough to do it. You’ll get worn out. You don’t get a lot of real-life skill out of this kind of life,” Sang replied.
“No, that’s not true. It’s where you get to think things out. I don’t know about you, but how many actual puzzles do you face in real life? I mean, come on, this is a place where your mind can run free.”
“Mind runs free while the body rots?” Sang muttered. “No thanks.”
“Mark my words—by the end of this whole thing, you’re going to be in love with gaming. I promise.”
“By the end of this whole thing, I intend to be far away from this game and up close to a real-life mountain,” Sang said. All of this time running around in a breathtaking virtual world had created inside of her a passionate longing to be out in real nature. While her senses told her that everything in this world was real, she knew the truth... and that always seemed to keep her from feeling fully immersed into it. She decided that she’d go to Spain for a vacation, to a place called Asturias. There, she would be able to experience real beauty, and forget all about Alfred, the aliens, and all of this nonsense.
“Whatever. Come on and let’s get on the road to the Griffin King,” Van said. “No time like the present.”
“Hey! Earth to Sang!” he said.
“What? I was listening. The only way to improve my Bow skill is to get an Effervescent Bow—I got it,” Sang replied.
“What? No, first off, the Effervescent Bow is what you want to avoid, and secondly—look! There’s a quest in the middle of the road!”
Sang glanced at the road to see that there was a wounded knight laying on the ground. The terrain was still relatively open, but Sang could also see the mouth of the jungle not too far ahead. There was a yellow outline around the wounded knight, indicating that he was a quest.