NeoRealm – Staring Back Into the Future

Andrew nods when the quest is accepted before continuing, “Okay, now for a slight catch. You aren’t above level 9 nor have you been here long enough. Up till now you have been heading off into the woods and the beach. The shore and any forest next to it is easy to explain. Our town in its wisdom has marked that area as part of the town. Now this isn’t actually a bad idea. The turtles are passive and by making it a part of the town pirates and other unsavory types can’t take advantage to sneak in without the guards being notified. That goblin forest though? You going into it before one of the above conditions is breaking the rules. Travellers like yourself should be prevented from leaving the town. You got through on a loophole. Basically, the System assumes if you formed a core, even if you level ends up below 10, you where qualified before forming it. Similar things have happened in the past and if you had just kept hunting with no quests it wouldn’t have changed. Now however since a quest has been given to you, that loophole has closed on you. Don’t worry though as there is a legitimate way to travel into the forest for your quest though you might not like it. That way is to form a party of 3 people and share the quest with them. Then I will be able to give you permission to enter the forest though only when together and for this quest. Least that is what the system wants me to tell you. Finish this quest up and I might throw in a day pass or something.”

“Do I really have to team up? I prefer to be more of a loner and my ‘weapon’ of choice probably won't make me a popular teammate.”

Penny speaks up, “It’s true he isn’t a social one. I did a little investigation through my Traveller contacts and Jason has always been a loner. Even in their original realm let alone here he has had no true friends.”

Shaking his head and sighing Andrew goes on, “Duh, Why else do you think the system is forcing this condition on the quest? I have given this sort of quests for years. New travellers ALWAYS have conditions that will force them to face some personal weakness. One bookish little girl with a fear of public speaking who found my tower had to go around town announcing an event. Another time I had twins get quests that forced them to go in opposite directions for over a day. Until then they hadn’t been separated for more than a handful of minutes. After long enough here the system tends to give up on that sort of thing but Jason here hasn’t even finished his intro time. So long story short even if you abandon this quest any you get in the near future will make you join a team anyway. Penny will be the one who can point you to a few mooks. In fact it is about time I did another quest handout as the System is getting twitchy.”

Penny brightens up on hearing that last bit, “Good, it has been too long since you herded the new Travellers. We might not be a main spawn town for them but there are a good twentyish hanging around that haven’t gotten a quest from the local crazy wizard. I’ve even had a couple of them asking about it. Though if this is what we will be doing I need to send out a local System message. Should take about an hour to gather everyone that will be coming.”

Andrew nods his head in agreement, “The newest ones are probably already nearby but the others have probably spread out or might even be ‘logged out’ as they say. Let’s head back to the guild and you can write the message on the way.” and with that him and Penny start to head out soon followed by Jason.

As they make their way to the guild Jenny finishes up a message directed at any new travellers which of course Jason gets as well

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“And Done! If you here for the beginner quest please gather over here.”, Andrew shouts while gesturing at an empty corner of the room. Soon it fills up with an odd assortment of people. “Okay, first there is a special unique quest that I need two people for. First condition is you need to be fifth level or lower so anyone that wants a chance at it and is puny enough can move over to this side”, and he points to the left.

Only 7 of the 23 people move over to the side. Nodding at this Andrew continues, “So as to not hold the rest of you unnecessarily let’s give you all your quests now. First you three with the spiky hair, how about a classic? As a team go to the Drowned Cat tavern and tell them you there to take care of the giant rats in their basement. Next, that team of 5 over there. Friends for life, eh? The librarian wants a word with you all to find some special books that are lost in the Stacks. Now you, yes you, the blue guy. Go learn blacksmithing, you’ve avoided it but time to man up. The remaining 7? Sorry but the system doesn’t have a personalized quest for you. Upside is your quest is to complete one of the guild requests at the same rank as you. The extra system chosen reward should be good enough that you don’t feel left out.”

With that those people all start to leave. The last seven while looking a bit disappointed do seem to perk up when checking what the little extra they will get it. Satisfied with this Andrew turns the 7 who are still there, “Now to work on deciding who gets the special quest. I guess we can start by noting that the quest will involve going into the animal section of the forest. Yes this means you get a temporary pass to leave the city. Who still wants the quest?” A timid looking frogman bows out at this point and gets a quest. Andrew takes great pleasure in telling him his quest is to travel to the forest alone and touch one of the trees.

Looking a bit disappointed Andrew goes on, “I was expecting a few more cowards so I could give some actual combat based quests. Anyway now for the stuff I think will really drive you away. First is that this is an escort quest for this level 2 guy”, and he gestures towards Jason. With that half of them bow out. Nodding at that Andrew throws one final bit out, “Also he doesn’t use any weapons.”

This drives away one more person. Smirking Andrew hands out  a group quest for the 4 of them, “I don’t know why you didn’t stay in with the quest I gave the last guy. Boom, team quest for you guys and gals. Have fun escorting a sickly cat without touching it but prevent people from messing with it.” This new group all sulk off. After all, nothing worse than trying to herd cats.

Finally down to only two Jason takes a closer look at them. The first is a female rabbitkin. She puts off a tough image despite only being half as tall as Jason though her ears do reach his chin. Equipped with a sharp looking leather armor set with a strange bow on her back and a pair of curved daggers at her waist she pulls off the ranger look quite well. The only thing off about the whole image is the fact she is colored eggshell white with pink accents. Next to her is a tall dwarf. Admittedly he only comes up to Jason’s shoulders but still, on a dwarf that makes him a veritable giant. Dressed in the classic dwarven full plate, one of the few basic armor sets that doesn’t get one upped by the beginner sets you would almost think he was a tank or some other kind of frontliner. The only thing that even hints that this isn’t true is the Healers guild badge he is wearing. At this point the three are just in a tense stare off.

Deciding that this probably wasn’t going to end soon Penny speaks up, “Okay, enough of that stoic silence nonsense. All three of you are Travellers so you have at least that in common. Now introduce yourselves starting with you dwarf.”

The dwarf is about to speak up when the rabbitkin

“Hello, my name is James and I’ma dwarf if you couldn’t tell. My specialty is Healing and staying alive long enough to make sure I can do so. Also I did not start in this town but rather the small dwarf outpost in the mountain. Got the message though, so I headed on down here.” and then James gestures to the Rabbitkin to go.

“You can call me Rosha, Rabbitkin. I didn’t really intend for it but you can basically call me a bow focused ranger. Me and some friends where going to start here but when I showed up, it was only me. Now it’s your turn to tell us who you are and what your actual weapon is as players can’t not have one.”

“My name is Jason and I went with generic human. I guess you could call me a martial artist and I really don’t have a weapon. My fighting style is unarmed.”

Rosha doesn’t seem willing to take this answer and interjects, “No no no no no. As I said, you are a player. It is literally impossible to leave the tutorial without picking a weapon. No matter how strange or what you desire it is there. Look at my bow, it isn’t part of the beginner set because it is very special. Check this”, and she takes the bow off her back and with a quick action grabs both the daggers at her waist and slots them onto it. Now it looks like a single piece with the daggers perfectly fitting it, extending the bows arms outward. She then unstrings it and the bow becomes a bladed stave. With a quick spin that shows a good bit of skill she then restrings, puts away the daggers, and then returning the bow to her back. A nod of her head and she continues, “See that? Took me an hour to find just the right one, but it was there. You want to fight unarmed? There are an unlimited number of brass knuckles, gloves, and hand wraps in that endless white space. Now. What. Is. Your. Weapon!”

“Woh there, I really truly don’t have a weapon. As you said there are infinite possible weapons in there. Took me a long time but eventually I found the option for unarmed. You can ask the Guild Leader, she can confirm it.”

At this point Penny speaks up, “Yeah, he really has unarmed as his weapon of choice. There hasn’t been something like him in a few centuries. Don’t worry he can fight though.”

Andrew then interrupts this amusing back and forth, “Yeah, yeah, unarmed and what not. Quest Time! You two get to party up with that smuck and then go adventure into the animal forest area to pick a mcguffin flower. Ms. Rabbit in particular will like the reward as it is a System generated weapon. Don’t ask us how that will work for weaponless boy there. That is part of why we are doing this quest. Anyway, git, the quest is auto accepted because reasons. Don’t question the System it isn’t healthy.”

Akhier

Things I wanted to mention but didn’t:

Yes Andrew is doing what is basically breaking the fourth wall. He has studied the way his world works so much that he may know the true nature of his existence though he will never admit it. If only because he fears the system might deal with him. Also the higher level an NPC the more intelligence the system gives them and the more likely to figure something is up. Andrew however is likely the only one who has truly figured out what is really up within quite a large distance. At the high end the difference between player and NPC basically disappears.