Top Hat Express: A LitRPG Adventure (Vaudevillain Book 1), page 1
TOP HAT EXPRESS
Vaudevillain Book One
ALEX WOLF
Copyright © 2022 by Alex Wolf
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Newsletter
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
Afterword
About Alex Wolf
About Mountaindale Press
Mountaindale Press Titles
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I'd like to thank my friend Colin and my brother Jackson, who supported me throughout the process. I'd also like to thank everyone who read this book to make it popular enough to publish.
NEWSLETTER
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PROLOGUE
The international games expo was the largest gathering of nerds, geeks, and gamers known to man. Every year, the event brought thousands of these people together to watch their favorite studios announce the next up and coming game. All the big names were there, plus a few smaller companies lucky enough to secure a table.
The first days of the expo passed by as usual; the small indie companies revealed their darlings, and giant corporations steamrolled past with excessive advertisements and promotions. The end of the day showcased the ‘important’—which was whoever paid the most—games in an interview with the companies’ PR departments. Gamers stayed up well into the night, watching the new titles slated for release. But it was on the fifth day that things changed.
Somehow a small company had gotten itself an interview to advertise their new game, a VR game even.
Famous interviewer Molly Martinez sat in a ritzy chair next to the interviewee in question, Arthur Jovanovich. He was a reedy man with long legs and arms that seemed a tad too short. The crowd watched as Arthur walked onstage and sat in the chair opposite to Molly, his hands periodically moving to smooth out his khaki jeans. While Molly prepared, Arthur’s hands moved up to button or unbutton the top of his polo shirt, or move to push the glasses up his nose. A look of eager nervousness rested on his face, mimicking his frenetic activity.
The crowd surrounding the two shuffled about in much the same way. Excited gamers who had camped out early for good seats tapped their legs impatiently like children, eager to see what Arthur would announce. It had to be something big; an indie company wouldn’t get the spot if they didn’t have news that blew people out of the water. In the back stood reporters with bated breath, waiting for the next big scoop with phones at the ready. They believed the same as the gamers, though for other reasons. Namely, anonymous sources.
The lights around the room went out, and a spotlight lit up to focus on Molly and Arthur. The crowd cheered and clapped as Molly stood to address them.
“Welcome, everyone, to the third major Q and A panel for our sixteenth annual games expo! I’m Molly Martinez, your source for all things gaming, and today we have someone very special with us!”
Molly motioned for Arthur to stand.
“I have the pleasure of introducing Arthur Jovanovich! You may not know him, but Arthur is the leader of Vert, an up-and-coming VR studio. Please give him a round of applause!”
Cheers and claps continued for Arthur. His lips twitched upward in a thin smile.
“How are you doing today, Arthur?” Molly’s clear voice cut through the last of the cheers. She and Arthur sat back in their chairs as he answered.
“I’m doing well, thank you. Excited to announce the new product we’re working on.”
“Aren’t we all! You’re known for a little gem of a game called Flora, where players grow a garden of plants while facing off against invading insects. Is your new game similar? Are we all going to be gardeners in a VR world?”
Arthur laughed. “Nothing quite so mundane. No, Vert’s newest release is a fully immersive superhero MMO.”
Before Arthur had spoken, the crowd had been like all crowds, quiet but filled with whispered small talk from friends and colleagues. Now the room could hear a pin drop.
“That’s a bold announcement for a company as small as yours, Mr. Jovanovich.”
“Please, call me Arthur, and I don’t believe the claim is quite so bold. Great strides have been made in immersive technology over the past years, and Vert believes the world is ready for a new world of gaming.”
The crowd leaned forward, immersing themselves in the conversation.
“Arthur, it is well-known immersive VR tech causes significant problems to the user’s psyche and, as such, has been banned in most of the world. How are you going to prevent this?”
“Vert isn’t using the normal method people think of when the topic of immersive VR appears.”
“Oh?”
“No, we have designed our own technology that requires no surgeries for an uplink chip.”
It was well known that VR games were riddled with ‘uncanny valley’ issues. The equipment had long passed the simple headset and controller days, branching off into two different paths. The first was the ‘VR room,’ a specially made area that allowed the player to interact with the world using their entire body. Unfortunately, a VR room was incredibly expensive, and only those with large amounts of disposable income could afford it. Thus the VR room got relegated to the kid’s birthday party list of things to do once and never go back to. However, it did make laser tag a lot more intense.
The second path VR took was that of the ‘full dive.’ That was where a player’s brain was linked to a virtual body and controlled. Initial tests were promising, but problems quickly arose. The first was in terms of equipment. If someone wanted to link up the brain and a virtual body, surgery had to be performed to implant an uplink. Instantly, fundamentalists rallied together to stop this, claiming the operation was a way to implant the ‘mark of the beast’ into the population. Alongside them were those interested in privacy, concerned about possible data mining on those who used the product.
There was also the issue of realism. Trials with mice found that the brain would reject the virtual body if the graphics weren’t convincing enough, causing the animal to go into shock. This danger, combined with the push against the tech, collapsed the fragile foundations the tech had. Politicians immediately pushed for laws to prevent companies from implanting the computer chip. With so much pushback, companies were forced to shelve the idea.
Murmurs rushed along the crowd like waves on the shore. An immersive VR set that didn’t require surgery? How was that possible?
“How can that be?” Molly asked, mimicking the crowd’s reaction.
“I won’t bore you with the specific details, but recent scientific findings have found it possible to link with the brain without surgery through the use of a quantum computer. Apparently, the brain emits a signal that we can tap into. We’ve created a headset that accesses that signal while you sleep and connects you to a virtual body.”
The wave of murmurs churned in the crowd, swelling into towering questions by reporters and gamers alike.
“And what about all the issues with graphics!” Molly surfed above the wave of questions, her microphone-enhanced voice drowning out the others.
“Well, Molly, I think it would be better to show than tell.”
As Arthur spoke, the spotlight dimmed, and the large screen projecting him faded to black. The words, “All footage of this trailer is direct gameplay footage from the VIS Console,” appeared in bold white letters before fading back to black. A blue sky appeared onscreen, panning down to a thriving metropolis. Towering skyscrapers dominated the screen as the camera sank to street level. Civilians, looking every bit as real as Arthur onstage, milled about.
The crowd watched as they turned the corner on the street and
The man walked over to a cowering woman at the desk and pointed the gun at her. Panicked, the woman opened the till and shoved as much cash as she could at the man. Tears ran down her face as she pleaded for him not to shoot. The man ignored her in favor of stuffing the cash into a backpack on the dogs. Once the last bill entered the pack, he turned to leave.
The camera turned as well, and the audience found a floating woman dressed in a superhero’s iconic tights and cape. The man barked, directing the dogs. They rushed the woman while he raised his gun. The hero responded by flying straight toward the man at supersonic speeds. She stopped inches from his face, fist raised in a threatening gesture. Mollified, the man barked another order to his dogs, who walked back with their tails between their legs. The woman flew over to each dog and ripped the packs off, tossing them back to the sobbing woman.
The hero turned to arrest the would-be bank robber, but the whole screen shook with an explosion outside the bank. Quickly, the camera followed the supersonic woman as she rushed out the doors. There, a giant robot half the size of a skyscraper was making its way across the city. The camera cut from the hero to a woman dressed in overalls inside the mech. With a manic smile, she slammed her hand down on a big red button.
The camera cut back to the flying hero. The mech’s shoulders opened up, firing salvos of missiles that all targeted the woman. She dashed forward, nimbly dodging the deadly explosives, and readied a punch. The camera cut back to the overalled woman, who was pulling a rope dangling next to her. The mech shifted and prepared to throw a punch. The camera split in two as the characters’ faces appeared onscreen. The words, “World of Supers!” in an excited font smacked itself between the two.
The screen above faded to black and was replaced by Arthur and Molly sitting.
“So Molly,” Arthur said. “What do you think?”
Instead of an answer, the crowd stood and cheered. The game was more than many had hoped for. It was a dream come true!
“Arthur, I think we can safely say we love the idea!” Molly cried over the din. Cheers erupted to emphasize her point.
“World of Supers won’t be your ordinary MMO, either!” Arthur said as the cheers died down.
“What do you mean, Arthur?” Molly asked.
“We at Vert have been working hard to allow for any choice of superpower to work in the game. When someone purchases a copy and logs in, they’ll get prompted for the type of superpower they want. Vert will then work with a neural network to design and balance the specific power players want for their characters.”
More cheers of surprise erupted from the crowd. Free choice in a video game? That was unheard of! Reporters furiously sent messages on their phones, and ecstatic teenagers sent links of the livestream to their friends. But Arthur wasn’t done.
“Players in the game will be under a reputation system. Heroes and villains alike can perform quests to gain reputation. The greater your reputation, the more content you can access. We even have a prize for those who reach unprecedented levels of reputation in the game. Some players who perform extraordinary feats in-game will be able to become permanent raid bosses! Those chosen will be hired by Vert to work with us directly on designing a specific scenario for players to tackle!”
It was like the crowd had been turned up to eleven. Every gamer’s head filled with the idea of winning Vert’s favor and getting paid to play their game. Friends contacted friends to tell them the news, reporters called their bosses to announce the next headlines, and in the middle of it all, Arthur smiled happily.
CHAPTER ONE
Dylan sat at his computer and munched down on a bag of chips. The crunchy snack was the last of his ordered dinner, a sandwich combo from Joe’s Diner, the local place down the street. He liked stopping there after stressful days at work. The owner Joe made a mean Italian sandwich, Dylan’s favorite stress relief meal. Recently Dylan had been seeing more of Joe. The architecture firm he worked for downtown had snagged a huge contract for the city’s revitalization project and the whole place had been put hard to work designing and contracting.
But that was work stuff. Dylan was home now and work was behind him. Right now he was enjoying the rest of his day, the interview with Arthur Jovanovich playing on his second monitor. He had been following the game for a while, ever since Vert had announced the game on their website. He crunched down on a chip as Arthur premiered a gameplay video.
The premise of the game immediately interested him. An open-world MMO where people played as superheroes with freedom of choice sounded like an amazing idea. And sure, if the idea wasn’t executed correctly the game would be terrible, but Dylan believed Vert would deliver. There was also the fact it was a superhero MMO. That was the main reason he believed Vert would deliver; Dylan was a sucker for superheroes.
Of course, anyone who knew Dylan could tell instantly that superheroes were what interested the man. An entire wall in his bedroom was lined with posters and comics of superheroes from every genre. He had old comics from every age: the Golden age, the Silver age, the Bronze age, all of them. Each comic was packed into a clear plastic casing to prevent dust buildup while still open so he could read them. Bookshelves lined the wall perpendicular, filled with more comics and organized by volume.
Most of Dylan’s extra income went into purchasing these collections of comics and paraphernalia. After that, he’d buy games that caught his eye and anything leftover got stuck in a savings account. Most would say his idea of personal finance was backward, but Dylan believed in living life to its fullest. Saving up to enjoy his life when he was about to kick the bucket wasn’t his style.
The Netchat on his computer pinged with a message.
xXxDemonSlayerxXx:
Dude are you watching the Vert interview at the games expo
It was his friend John. The two had known each other since high school. Both had joined the games club at their school, which turned out to be a club for board games. John and Dylan were the only two who played online games and had hit it off, sharing their IDs.
Superfan39526:
Uh, duh? You think I’d miss something like that?
xXxDemonSlayerxXx:
I mean you said work was pushing you so I dunno
But
My god
That announcement
Superfan39526:
I know!
That video was so sweet. The graphics look so good.
And the console! You can play while you sleep!
xXxDemonSlayerxXx:
Not that!
The one where you can get paid to play videogames!
Superfan39526:
Oh.
Yeah I saw that.
Not really interested.
And it was true. Dylan liked his current job, despite how busy he was at the moment. He made good money, enough to live with plenty of cash to spare. So he saw no need to treat World of Supers as a job.
