Heralds- The Proving Grounds, page 36
Jen tilted her head. “What happened to him?”
“Jail happened to him. The takeaway from that being, screw with a video game? Nobody cares. Makes some terroristic threats and they will lock your ass up toot sweet.” She snapped her fingers. “But he’s not what I’m here about. I’m here about you guys.” She pointed and waved her hand taking in the lot of them. “We are not actually sure how Miller flagged your accounts or to what extent they are different than everyone elses.” She shrugged. “But it would be a major dick move, my words not theirs, to punish you for something outside your power. You didn’t know any better and, having checked the logs, it’s entirely possible we would not have won without your support.”
Sam’s face was hard to read. “So what does that mean for us.”
“Well, we actually have a lot of fires we’re trying to put out. Spoilers, there’s going to be more downtime while we try to fix everything Miller did. Probably a few hours a day for the next week or two. And that’s the best case scenario. Don’t worry, we’ll try to do it at off hours which is sure to piss off Australians. Point is, we have problems but right now we’re not counting you among them. You’re getting a pass. You don’t give us reason to look for you and we won’t.” She shrugged. “If that sounded like a threat that’s not how I meant it. It’s pretty much live and let live. I mean, your abilities sort of make you ticking time bombs, but the fact of the matter is Miller chose well. Or poorly for him. You’re decent people. We’re not going to go out of our way to fix you because it would probably be hazardous to your accounts and we have bigger fish to fry anyway. Granted, we might hit you unintentionally while we fix other things, but it’s not our goal.”
The side of Jen’s mouth turned up in a small smile. “Cool.”
Jesse turned back to face Jen. “And you get to keep your sword, by the way. As long as you keep using it properly. Not like you can use it to power level.” She winked.
Anna raised her hand. “But you’ve seen us now. You know us. That’s not exactly giving us a pass. You can keep tabs on all of us.”
“True. But that’s the thing. I have seen you. Me. Personally. This is my admin account so I can use it to teleport to Jen, who is on my friends list because she’s cool and you all totally should be too, but I’m not being monitored by the system because they can’t monitor me. I’m outside the building, outside their network. Miller’s loophole. Which, again, we’re gunna close but for now it’s handy. Before you ask, no, I’m not going rogue here. Jerry is right there making this more official, and I have clearance for this because you stepped up for us. In fact I come bearing some fun news.” She turned away from the group and walked a few steps before waving her hands in the open air. A white box appeared there. “Everyone see this okay?” She glanced back over her shoulder.
A loading circle spun on the box. A moment later a bearded man appeared. “Hello citizens of the Proving Grounds. My name is Paul Stiles, CEO of Brave New World Entertainment and design lead on The Proving Grounds. I wasn’t really planning to address you quite this early in the process, but in light of the early access event causing a few problems in the world we realized the game might just be too big for us to properly monitor and maintain as it stands. And so in the interest of having everyone receive a solid end user experience, today I’m here to announce a new system. Volunteer players acting as helpers and guides to others, empowered to do a few simple things only Game Masters could before. We’re calling them Heralds.”
Jesse looked back over her shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows.
“These Heralds are players, just like you, who are volunteering their time to handle problems in the world that are a low enough priority that a GM isn’t really required. Most tickets submitted actually fall into this category. Get stuck in a wall? They can help. Lost a quest item? They can give it back to you. Now there are certainly times when a GM is still what you’ll need and we’ll be handling those issues. Tickets submitted will be processed and sent out accordingly. And with this system in place, all tickets should be handled faster.
“Now you might be asking, who would give up their time to do something like this? Well it turns out some people have already been doing this sort of thing. That’s where we got the name. We’re sure more are willing to lend a hand. We’ll provide a link to the sign up sheet at the end of this video, and post it up in our new channel. If you put in an application, and can keep your account free of infractions, you’ll be seriously considered until the quota is met.
“Now we could spend hours talking about how people might try to abuse this status for their own gain, but I’ll be brief. Heralds are special characters, separate from your normal ones. They don’t level and can’t trade with other players, and we have a list of things they should not do that if we catch you doing, you’re out. Simple as that. But if you’re the type that wants to see this world be everything it can be, who wants to make sure it’s as smooth and reliable as possible for their fellow players, and you’ve got a few spare minutes here and there, then we want to hear from you.”
The screen went dark.
“We’re going to show that in… a week or so? That was a rough cut. Paul doesn’t like it yet. Thinks it’s a tad hostile. That cut was just for you guys.” With a sweep of Jesse’s hand the screen vanished. “And you guys are not those Heralds. You just inspired the system. And you can use them to cover your tracks.” Jesse winked.
“Celan. Paul.” Jen blinked at the open space where the screen had been.
“Yes? Celan Doren. That was Paul in the early access.”
Huh. The air slipped out of Jen’s lungs. That guy was the CEO. She had bumped into him a few times. Healed him, too. He hadn’t been very creative about his character. It looked just like him.
Pretty much the absolute worst person to run into when she was trying to keep a low profile.
Sam didn’t seem to care. “If he was the paladin raid leader guy, who was Tobin Ironblood?”
Jesse tilted her head back and forth a bit. “Uhh… well… okay, look. You guys probably deserve a fair shake, and I’m not presently being monitored by anyone but Jerry, so… What? No. They deserve to know. I didn’t ask you, Jerry.” Jesse rolled her eyes. “Tobin was a player. Miller picked him to lose. He didn’t get into the beta so he was going in blind, and he picked Barbarian which Miller was sure would sink him. Shows what he knows.”
Sam frowned. “Just some guy? Some random guy bested Bulorn?”
“That’s not a very nice way to say it… but yeah. I guess.” Jesse nodded. “Say, where is that guy? He ever turn up again after the… incident?”
Anna shook her head. “When we thought better of the… mission, he preferred siding with Hank, Miller to you I suppose, against us. He doesn’t respawn here. We have no idea where he is or what he looks like anymore.”
“Bummer.” Jesse tapped her chin with her index finger. “And he’s still like you?”
“As far as we know.”
Jen nodded. “We assume we’ll see him again at some point.”
Kail scoffed. “His pride won’t heal otherwise.”
Jesse mimed picking something up and… writing? “We’ll look for him. Might be tricky with all the Miller shenanigans. So far I don’t even know which are your accounts. They don’t stand out. In the meantime, consider a note made. If you run across him just send a ticket with ‘Bulorn’ in it and it will jump to the top of the queue. We’ll get a GM on him ASAP.”
Sam shrugged. “He doesn’t matter. What are we supposed to do with ourselves now?”
Jesse looked confused. “Whatever you want? You’re players who got caught up in something bad. You didn’t seek it out. You didn’t abuse it. I mean hell, I didn’t hear about any of you until Jen came forward, but I know all about those Seven Eyes jerks. If you want to, sign up for the Heralds program if it makes you feel more official. From what I understand your characters here are already kind of one offs and you might already have access to the ticket system. And if we ever do end up undoing whatever Miller did to you, we’ll let you know in advance if we can. If changes end up impacting your characters drastically, we’ll swap the names and appearances to Herald characters and give you each a level capped character to customize.”
Kail rubbed at his chin. Anna was nodding to herself. Poe was frowning a bit. Jen would guess he didn’t feel like what he could do would help anybody. Sam was difficult to read.
“But…” Sam tilted her head. “Are there things we can’t do anymore? Like, Hank said we couldn’t claim land and whatnot.”
“Not knowing the extent, I can only assume what he did is still active.” Jesse shrugged. “So, stay the course? With better friends. Namely me. Who is awesome.”
Jen smiled. “Well count me in. I’ll sign up. I find I rather like riding in to the rescue. Not sure what else I would do with Soulshine anyway.”
Sam rolled her eyes.
Kail nodded. “Indeed. I’ll be happy to help.”
Poe shrugged. “Not sure if I can…”
“No sweat, kid.” Jesse gave him a small smile. “The class isn’t important for this. Guy is stuck in a wall, skeletons need not be applied. I mean, you could apply them just to freak the guy in the wall out. That could be neat. But failing that you just target them and move them a bit. Though… don’t use it to move people into walls. That’s a no-no.”
Anna sighed. “Dang, I was going to do that.”
“Do it at night.” Jesse nodded. “Less oversight, and they’re more taxed. What’s that, Jerry?” She tilted her head. “Jerry says don’t do it ever, and that I’m not funny. Well I know I’m funny, it must be opposite day. Stick somebody in a wall for me.”
Anna narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you work there?”
“That’s what my paychecks say.” She shrugged. “I’m an animator. What happens in the game is none of my business. I only care if it screws up my play time. You don’t stick me in a wall, I don’t care.”
Jen chuckled. “I think maybe the GM staff will be less accommodating. I’ll play by their rules.”
Sam shook her head. “Yeah, no. If it’s all the same, I’m out.”
Jesse nodded. “Fair enough. There’s no requirement to sign up. And you’re still free to be what you are… as long as you don’t give us reason to reconsider.”
Sam stared at Jesse for a few moments before turning away. “Whatever.”
Jesse’s smile returned. “Okay, sounds groovy. Now Jerry and I need to head back to work. I’ll let Paul know I talked to you, and get the ‘Bulorn’ thing to the GM staff.” Her arm swung though the open air and her eyes shifted to the side. “Get on that, Jerry. When we make the Herald announcement it will be hard to miss. Incidentally…” Jesse swept her eyes around the group. “Not kidding by the way. Friend invites!” She looked at each of them and nodded… until she came to Sam. She stood in front of Sam and stared at her. And waited.
And waited…
Sam glared at her. “I’m going to keep declining, you know.”
“I’ll wear you down.”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re incredibly annoying?”
“Yes.”
Jen sighed. “I think she’s serious Jesse. But don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on her for you.”
Jesse narrowed her eyes at Sam. “I dunno…”
Sam threw her hands into the air. “Stop sending me invites! I’ll report you for harassment.”
“Pfft. They’ll never touch me.”
“Argh!”
“Hey, you want to see a cool GM trick?”
Sam stared at Jesse with narrowed eyes. “How did you add me without my consent?”
“Because I tried to be nice about it.” She shrugged. “Technically I’m acting as your official liaison. If we need to get a hold of you, it will be me doing it. I didn’t have to ask. I’m just nice like that.”
“I think I hate you.”
Jesse smiled. “Aww, that’s sweet. You’re not sure you do. I’m making progress.” She waved. “Okay kids, I’m out. You be good.”
Jesse vanished.
Anna chuckled. “Wow. And she works there.”
Kail nodded. “I don’t think she was hired for her personality.”
Jen lifted her chin. “Well I like her.”
Sam shook her head. “You’re crazy. I hate her. And I can’t take her off my friends list. But hey, Bulorn’s gone. Today’s not a total wash.”
Jen checked her list. Huh. He was gone. “Must have changed his name or something.”
Anna shrugged. “To hell with that guy. I’m going to go see if the table is still working.”
Sam tilted her head. “You think we’re immortal again?”
“Hank turned that off.”
“Yeah… but the server was reset. So it might be back, right?”
“We can’t test that.” Anna shrugged. “We can kill each other because we always could.”
Sam tapped a finger against her chin for a moment. Her eyes moved around the island. She pointed. “I’m going to jump off that. Should be enough of a fall to kill me. Or at least injure me. Then I’ll do it again.” She was looking up at the top of the tallest building. If she jumped just right… she might be able to fall to the lower part of the island. Jen was suddenly curious if sand would take some of the brunt of the fall. Probably not.
Anna stared at her a moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever head anyone say those words before. It sounds weird. My first instinct is to talk you out of it.”
“Bleh.” Sam waved to shoo her away. “I’ll be fine either way.”
Poe shook his head a bit and started up toward the buildings.
Kail moved to walk beside him. “How are you doing? That thing with Miller and the skeletons didn’t rattle you too much, did it?”
The young man shrugged. “Nah, I’m okay.”
They moved out of earshot as Anna took strides to catch up.
Jen was still standing on the beach, looking down at Soulshine’s hilt. Sam was tracing a finger across the open air before her, no doubt trying to calculate the proper fall distance.
“Sam.”
“Hmm?”
“What did you do with the lantern?”
Sam’s eyes shifted to Jen slowly. “What?”
“The lantern. The one Jakon had. The one Hank gave him. You took it.”
“Did I?” Sam rubbed at her chin. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Sam.” Jen tapped her foot in the sand.
“Busy, got things to jump off of.” Sam bolted away.
Jen sighed. “Damn it…” She shook her head and started up toward the buildings. Sam… probably wouldn’t do anything earth shattering with that thing. Probably. Maybe.
There was a sudden crunching sound as Jen reached the top of the stairs…
“Ahaha!”
She tilted her head. It sounded like Sam.
“One hit point!”
Jen rolled her eyes. There had to be better ways to test that. She opened her menu. The default “Recall” button was still at the top, not quite looking like it fit. She still had a “Developer” button, too. The sub-menu GM tools were in. She hadn’t opened that in ages. Wasn’t much point. But now she wondered about that thing Jesse had done, forcing Sam onto her friends list and all.
She tapped the button.
There were a lot of tools in there.
None of them were grayed out.
Jen tilted her head. “Uhh…” As far as the game was concerned, she was a Game Master.
Thank you for reading The Proving Grounds: Heralds. If you have the time and inclination, please consider leaving a short review so others can find and enjoy it.
Other works by Wade Adrian
The Proving Grounds: Ultimatum
The Hawk, Book 0: Recruit
The Hawk, Book 1: Unleashed
The Hawk, Book 2: Captain
The Hawk, Book 3: Legend
The Hawk Trilogy
Black Knight: A Land of Shadows
The Ghost of Captain Blackstone
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Wade Adrian, Heralds- The Proving Grounds
