Chapter 4 - Something New
“Can we get out of the city?” Naiad begged while rubbing her wrists where the chains were a moment ago.
The red markings on her wrists brought the guilt in my mind for getting annoyed at her misbehavior earlier. She took a huge risk trying to stay with the family when she saw me on the boat. Risking her class to be with us… maybe she cared more about gaming than I thought. Her actions gave us a chance to get Triangle off the boat.
“Itching to go do your quest?” I casually asked while focusing on sending CheezWhiz one last final thank-you message.
I promised to help and pay back whenever I could. He mentioned keys. We got those from certain dailies and magistrate quests. Triangle’s random gathering helped produce some of them, too. Certain items would occasionally drop keys, and with all the gathering he did, it was easy for Triangle to share them with the guild. He held onto the flowers in his hands a little longer, tickling my ear one last time with the stem before moving them into his inventory.
“Yeah,” Naiad answered, “to get to the woods and-”
I pointed in a direction. “Hold on, I want to grab some falafel before we head out.”
She sighed and pointed toward the woods. “I’ll head to the forest and start on the small quests.”
“I want to go with her. I don’t want to get sick again.” Triangle said before making a gagging sound. “It tastes like kale chips.”
“That’s their extra crispy version of falafel. I’m telling you, the real-world version tastes better than what’s here.”
“You never take us to go get it,” Naiad pointed out.
Triangle shook his head. “I’m not going unless they have fries.”
I looked them over and their level to debate if they could even go out on their own into the forest without me. Naiad was getting close to age. She was twice Triangle’s height. A short bow sat on her back along with a full quiver, perfect for a single hunt without me, but it would be better if I were there. She had a throwing knife and could be stealthy through the shadows of a forest to stalk prey if she kept her hood up to hide the pink hair. The surrounding forest was on her level and she was smart at knowing when to bail. I was worried about her going alone.
<<<
Player Name: Naiad
Level: 5
Race: Half-breed (elf + human)
Class: Scout
Affiliations: None
Status Buffs: None
<<<
I wanted the kids to have some fun with designing their characters and choose an adventuring and fighting class. Naiad listened and picked a bow and arrow, focusing on wild animals. She could end up as a druid, or beastmaster, likely any of the advanced classes based on her current scout one.
Triangle, though, in the few days I was out sick, ended up as a tinker. Tinkers are normally shopkeepers, but in the hands of a child, things became a bit explosive.
<<<
Player Name: Triangle
Level: 6
Race: Half-breed (gnome + human)
Class: Tinker
Affiliations: Goblin’s Apprentice
Status Buffs: None
<<<
He had a fanny pack where he could easily access his bombs and snappers. Everyone in the guild prayed he would pull out the smoke bombs during fights, instead of the explosive bombs.
Friendly fire was a real thing in Seconds-Over, and it was the reason CheezWiz was on another continent.
The dude just laughed it off and begged for keys for his own guild hall entrance - a place for player housing and business that connected to our main hall here with three of his friends. CheezWiz could’ve started his own guild, but stayed with the Shrimp Guild because he liked shrimp.
It worried me that the kids wanted to go to the woods alone. Naiad did not have the equipment to withstand a hit from Triangle’s more powerful bombs. Also, Triangle was still a six-year-old that lacked impulse control or focus. Even with his older sister, he could easily get into trouble.
I told them my decisions. “Triangle, you stay with me. Naiad, stick to only the plant-gathering parts of your class quest. If there are mobs above level three, don’t engage. We shouldn’t be too long.”
“No!” Triangle ran over and grabbed Naiad’s hand. “I don’t want to. There are flowers out there and plants to season my smoke bomb smell.”
“Perfumes,” Naiad whispered to him as she weaved her fingers into his to stand united against their dad.
“Perfumes to make smoke bombs.” Triangle corrected.
“No,” I remained determined. “I can’t risk you throwing a bomb.”
“I won’t unless the monsters show up!” Triangle patted his pack.
“Please don’t do that. I can handle them.” Naiad pleaded.
“We already wasted enough time and gold because of a fishing trip and jail. Listen to me and let’s go to the falafel and Mrs. Crockery.” I only had so much time to play with them before their bedtime. It frustrated me that Naiad didn’t want to stick together. Her class quest held our group back today.
My low level wasn’t helping either.
Naiad clicked her tongue, something that her mom always did before a lecture. “How do you like food poisoning? I’m certain we can gamble on some restaurants downtown.”
“That is no way to talk to me when I’m worried about you.” My throat felt tight, saying the words as calmly as possible. The real-world time ticked on as we stood here debating. The kids were anxious too, and we had already lost time dealing with the port incident.
Once the kids went to bed, I could hop on and grab the falafel for the fortitude stat. But I still needed to get my reputation up with Mrs. Crockery. I had to unlock a quest or two to catch up to my kids.
“I want to do something different from dailies. Can we just get out of the city?” Naiad pushed the subject.
“Please! I need… stuff,” followed up Triangle. Even he got bored with the city of Fanamel. They had camped here for over a month on basic leveling. I was still only level four. Back in my college days with Globe of Battlecraft, I would be level four before my first break from the game.
“Prison life changed you?” I joked.
Naiad shook her head, eyebrows crossed in annoyance. “Please?”
I scratched at my short beard. “I like it when we are together. Let me get my pottery shards collected, then we can go. I’m a level behind you and need the experience award. I’ll speed run it.”
Naiad sighed and looked up at the birds flying overhead. Triangle let go of her hand and used his fingers to do math, counting some unknowable six-year-old brain countable thing.
“You’re only two levels behind me!” He declared victoriously.
“Good job,” I said, keeping my voice flat. Did first graders start arithmetic already? That was not on the last take-home worksheet from school.
He continued to count the amount of horse hooves that passed us as we walked, showing how he could do it by four. Listening closely, I could hear him mumble the numbers in between and talking about points to various plants. We passed a community bulletin board where players put calls for help.
“Tank wanted for guild. Blacksmith in the guild. DM Moogie.”
“Looking for adventure escort into the mountain caves. DM Rangaera.”
“Information on Alchemist class quest wanted. PotHolder.”
The papers covered the board, and a lot of the requests were still the same ones as last week. None of them were interesting to me.
We stopped where an old lady swept the street outside her shop.
The shop displayed multiple colorful pots, statues, and various parts for tools. The smoke billowed out of the roof from the kiln inside. Shards of broken pottery were being swept to into piles. She hummed to herself as she pushed the broom, and more shards spawned beneath her to sweep. An endless spawn until a player engaged with her.
I patted Triangle's head and said, “Time me. Let’s see how fast I can get all the pieces!”
“Okay,” said Triangle. A stopwatch appeared and instantly started above his head with no warning.
I rushed forward. The old NPC began to apologize, but I cut her off. “Hello Mrs. Crockery, I see you ran into those hooligans again.”
“Oh, yes…” Mrs. Crockery’s cracked voice filled the air. Heavy smoking or the kiln fumes caused her raspy voice.
I zoned out the rest as I quickly picked up the various pieces and put them in a bucket nearby with care. If I prevented the pieces from chipping further, I would gain a better reputation with Mrs. Crockery. This quest was only available once a day, as long as no other player took part in the quest event.
It was rare for that to happen.
Only a few players became tanks. It meant dealing the least damage, moving the least, not being flashy, and taking all the hits. In a game that was about feeling real, getting hit did not appeal to anyone. As a tank, you want a shielding ability. Through the shop’s glass window, I could see a shield with an intricate carved pattern on display in the back wall, but Mrs. Crockery wouldn’t let me in until I proved I wasn’t a hooligan.
“Then they threw rocks and almost broke the display window!” the woman cried, dropping the broom on the ground next to me just as I put the last shard in the bucket.
The mix of her crying, but the animated hearts above her head indicating I improved my reputation, sent all sorts of mixed signals to my brain. I was happy, but had to remember her tears weren’t from a real person. At least I was done with the gathering of shards.
I glanced at Triangle to see what my time was.
Both kids hadn't seen me finish. They gave up waiting.
Naiad stood on patrol above Triangle, who was now digging up something out of the planted pot nearby. The timer was still going above his head, already past two minutes. Triangle couldn’t pay attention for two whole minutes. He pulled out a centipede and wiggled it at Naiad, who laughed and gathered it in her hand.
The archerfish that Triangle caught earlier appeared in his hands. The large fish inhaled the bug up instantly. With a pat on his head, he sent the fish back to his inventory. I needed to ask how the fish stayed alive in his inventory.
Before I could go over and ask, a new message blasted my interface.
[A Quest! Mrs. Crockery wants you to put a stop to the hooligans who are throwing rocks at her store.
[Accept: Yes or No?]
“Yes!” I jumped and shouted, startling poor Mrs. Crockery.
She grabbed the bucket from my arms, smiling nervously at me. I noticed Naiad had noticed and I waved her over, but she ignored me and continued her older sibling’s duty of keeping an eye on Triangle.
The woman took a deep breath and said with a polite smile, “If you could stop them from destroying my shop display, it would mean a lot to me, and save me from losing products, too.”
“Of course. Any clue who did it?” I inquired.
The woman crossed her eyebrows. “I already told you that Mr. Crockery found pieces outside of the eastern wall.”
“Any clue on what they looked like?”
“Hooligans!” she puffed and rattled the bucket of pottery, annoyed at having to repeat her words. “They wore their hoods and came from the shadows, purposely making it difficult to determine who they were. They were shorter and narrower than me but ran quick like young-ins do when causing trouble.”
People shorter than Naiad, but taller than Triangle. Hoods and eastern wall. It was a start. Seconds-Over did not throw quest markers over an NPC’s head or a location about any quest information. I was going to have to investigate on my own. At least I finally earned an enough reputation with her to work towards a class quest. I had to do this today. “Thanks for explaining it again. You’ll be hearing from me shortly!”