Heralds- The Proving Grounds, page 4
“So…” Jen tilted her head. “What exactly are we allowed to do? What can we do? What is forbidden?”
“A great deal, a tiny bit more, and not much really.” The little man shrugged. “In your options screen you’ll have a new choice. You all have access to a somewhat restricted version of the developer panel, like what I have. Some things are turned off for the well being of the server and the game’s fledgling economy. You can’t claim land, and you can’t spawn items, for instance. That would throw everything off. You can teleport around, and always come back here if you don’t have another destination. This is your home base, free from the troubles of the world. I helped set this place up. It’s a secret. Everyone else only knows this as a barren island too far out to be useful.
“You also have your immortality, which is no minor thing.” He chuckled. “But the real kicker this early is that the six of you are linked. You’re not exactly grouped, but you have a secret channel you can speak to each other in and a significant portion of any experience earned by one of you is shared with all of the others. So if you put your minds to it, you should level in a hurry. I’m sorry to say you’re not in the running for any world first achievements because of that. No way around that I’m afraid, as you have a clear advantage.”
Jen frowned. “Kinda sounds like it’s going to take the fun out of things.”
Sam rounded on her. “The hell are you talking about? We’re immortal.”
“We are.” She shrugged. “But that means we can’t fail.”
The monk rubbed at his chin. “This one is inclined to agree with the paladin.”
The large man scoffed. “Of course you would, goody goody.”
The small man held up a hand. “This is purely for the event. When it’s done, you’ll have the option to restart, if you like. I understand this may not be what any of you had in mind for your early access period, but you won’t suffer for taking part, I promise.”
Sam raised her hand. “Oh, no worries. Totally sold.”
The large man nodded and raised his hand. “Indeed.”
The blond woman tapped a finger against her chin. “I suppose…”
The final member had been sitting among them silently all the while. He never uttered so much as a syllable. He was dressed in the black and purple robes of a novice necromancer, only his bearded chin was visible beneath his black hood. He didn’t speak in reply, but raised his hand with the others.
Jen looked over at the seated monk.
He shrugged. “Such power… might be abused by someone else.” He glanced around the circle, but his eyes didn’t stop on anyone in particular. “So even if I do nothing else with it, I will ensure no wrong is done.” He raised his hand.
The small man shrugged. “That’s my job, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
Several pairs of eyes turned to Jen. She was the only holdout.
It was definitely going to alter the next few days. These were abilities players were not meant to have. And yet… it was a GM handing them out for the sake of an event that they needed some help with.
Hard to argue.
Besides, it might be fun.
She raised her hand.
4
The little man, who introduced himself as Hank, walked them inside as he pointed out things on the island.
“Like I said, I was heavily involved in throwing this together. Didn’t have a lot of time, so it’s a tad basic but it should work well.”
Inside the largest of the buildings, which wasn’t all that big but large enough for all of them to fit inside, a central chamber held a small circular table. Its top appeared to be made of glass as light from the windows shined back from it. Beneath the glass was a large map.
It looked to be the entire world. While it was ocean at all the edges most of the center was made up of land. Dots, lines, and colors appeared in seemingly random places.
“While GMs have a different way of teleporting about using coordinates input directly, I set up this table for you to use. It shows the world map which you can move about and zoom in, like so.” He reached down and touched the surface, dragging his hands apart to zoom in. “A simple double tap and you will appear right there. You have a preset button to return to the island as well. It’s listed as ‘Recall’ in your main menu. So teleporting will take you a bit longer than it would be a GM, and it’s a bit less precise, but not by much.
“The table also keeps tabs on the world, showing each area’s level range as it adjusts in real time with the dynamic content system.” He nodded as he shifted the map left and right before zooming it back out to the entire world view. “It looks like a few cities are already beginning to spring up. How industrious.”
He zoomed the map in on an area near to one of the cities under construction. “As good a place as any. Alright,” he glanced around at the assembled party, “everyone just double tap on the map here and you’ll be off. It’s a safe location, and you can come back as soon as you like. Just tap the recall button on your menu. Simple as that.”
The monk nodded and leaned in over the table. He tapped the map twice and vanished a moment later. The others stared at the empty place he had been standing.
“He’s quite alright.” Hank chuckled. “Though he isn’t going to pop back to that spot. He’ll show up on the beach. Didn’t want you bumping into each other in the garden. Who’s next? I want to make sure you all understand how this works.”
Sam shrugged and tapped the map. She vanished.
Huh. In for a penny… Jen reached out and tapped the same place as Sam.
The world didn’t seem to change much, and there was no special magical effect. More like a slight hiccup in the system just before Jen found herself standing under the boughs of an apple tree. She blinked a few times as the shift in lighting messed with her eyes. After a couple quick glances, she couldn’t see and of the others. For a brief moment there was only panic.
She was out in the middle of nowhere, alone. Full PVP rules were in effect…
She opened the main menu and hit the recall button.
A few dropped frames later the same beach greeted her. The soft sound of lapping waves, birds overhead, and a gentle breeze passing by.
Sam appeared beside her only a few seconds later. “Huh. That’s going to take some getting used to. Where’d you go?”
“The same place you did.”
“Weird. I didn’t see you out there.”
“I guess we should pick landmarks to meet up at in the future.”
“Good idea. And the table can probably zoom in more.”
They were the last two back to the center of the island. Jen thought she had panicked faster than anyone else. She felt a bit of pride about that not being the case.
Hank nodded to them. “Successful test?”
“More or less.” Sam shrugged.
“Good. In addition to teleportation and your immortal status, there are a number of other small systems that have been turned on for you. Somewhat experimental things that were cut for time concerns and a lack of solid testing. But there’s no time like the present, and it’s not like you’ll suffer many consequences, eh?” He grinned. “The big one is going to be the Honor system. We were working on it for months but it ended up on the back burner. It’s in, though. Just disabled. So I flipped it on fully just for you six. The short version is that it allows quests and interactions with NPCs to award honor points. The options won’t tell you how much, mind you, only that picking that option will trigger an honor shift. Up or down is for you to figure out. It’s up to you to decide how to act.
“I selected the class spread with the system in mind.” He pointed at Jen, and then at the monk, Kail. “Honorable and noble options will get you guys the most use. Both classes will gain a bonus to damage and a few other perks for getting your honor rating high and keeping it there.” He turned and pointed at Annabelle, the blackguard, and Poe, the necromancer. “Just the opposite for you. Honor is a sliding scale and you’ll be rewarded for keeping it low.” Finally he pointed at Sam and Bulorn, the warrior. “You two are neutral in the eyes of the system. That means you’ve got rewards at both ends, depending on your personal preference, but that they are not as strong as the rewards for others because there’s no punishment waiting at the other end. When this is all said and done I’d be happy to hear any feedback on the system. Personally I think it’s ready for prime time, but that’s not my call… most days.”
Sam twirled a dagger around her finger. “So why let us have it then? Won’t you get in trouble?”
“Not as such. Honestly? It’s… a bit of a crossed wires situation. You have a watered down version of GM tools, and GMs can see the honor system options, so you can see the honor system options. It would have taken additional work to keep you from seeing it, and we were kind of pressed for time in the home stretch. Easier to simply make it so it works.” He shrugged. “Besides, it benefits the event. Even if you can’t find enough things to fight, you can take on some quests others don’t even see.”
Jen opened the menu. The “Developer” button was at the bottom. Most of the options were grayed out, which made sense. She didn’t want to be tempted to just make a mountain of gold, or pile up resources so one town could grow faster than another. She had power in this world… it didn’t seem fair to play favorites.
She shook her head at the menu.
“Monks are not known for their mind reading…” Kail’s voice appeared before her. She looked up to see him on the other side of the GM menu, standing a few feet away. “But I’m pretty sure I know yours. And I think I share your sentiment.”
She shrugged. “Not sure why me.”
“Beta experience, and a solid spread of representatives.” The monk nodded. “That is the information we have. Are we to assume that is incorrect? Why would a GM mislead us? That couldn’t benefit their company.”
“I don’t know. There’s a lot I don’t know.”
“Good.” He nodded. “For that is the foundation of wisdom.”
She chuckled. “You’re insufferable, you know that? I’m downright neutral compared to you.”
“I don’t think so. You are given pause by the power handed to you.” He pointed out at Sam and Bulorn arguing over the map table. “They… are not. They only question how to apply the power they are given.”
“Guess I’m not even sure where to begin. Honestly? Not really fond of this whole permadeath event. Even if I am immune to it, I know other people will have their day ruined.”
“It does seem an odd choice. But I’m sure it will drive word of mouth up, and it is only temporary.”
“Maybe. Marketing was never my thing. It seems… cruel. Not something I would expect. People want to play. They’ve been waiting ages, and this is how they are greeted?”
The monk shrugged. “I suppose rarity is meant to take the edge off that. Ask someone about their favorite memories of these games and you’ll typically hear about events such as this. Things that pull the user base together, where they take part even if they did not ask to.”
She smiled a bit. “I admit, I could tell a few stories like that. On the other hand, that doesn’t change much in the now. But… I’ll try to be a bit more open minded about it.”
“Since we don’t have much choice in the matter, that seems like a wise place to start.”
Hank stood up from leaning over the map table, his eyes shifting to the empty space off to his left. “Whelp, looks like I’m needed. Alright people, you’ve got this. Help people get the proverbial ball rolling, oppose the oppressive dictatorship, try not to get caught by the other team. Simple, really.”
Sam glanced at him from across the table. “Team? Do we have a team name?”
“You do.” He nodded. “You are my Heralds.”
“Harold? What? I know a guy named Harold. I don’t think we need a team of them.”
Bulorn shook his head. “Herald, with an E. A harbinger. A messenger. One that comes before something else.” He pointed at the little man. “We’re his Heralds. Do you know who the Silver Surfer is? Herald of Galactus?”
Sam tilted her head at the large man. “I do not.”
He sighed. “Yeah, never mind then.”
Hank chuckled. “You’ll do fine. I’ll check in later tonight. I added myself to your friends lists. Perks of being a GM. If you need anything just let me know. Even if I’m not around I’ll still get a notification.” He nodded as he looked around. “Good luck.”
He gave a thumbs up and vanished from sight.
Jen had seen some classes with teleportation abilities in the beta. Mostly casters, but the occasional rogue. All of them had some manner of smoke or light or some visual effect. Hank had nothing of the sort. He was there, and then he was gone.
That wouldn’t seem odd, except that she had seen GMs at work at the tail end of the beta. They had appeared and disappeared in flashes of white light.
Well, maybe they changed the effect? Or he had a developer account, but not a proper GM account. She didn’t know, and that didn’t seem like the sort of thing that would make it into patch notes. Besides, tuning off the effect seemed like a debug sort of thing. GMs could be in on that.
Sam pointed at Bulorn across the table.
He tilted his head at her. “Eh?”
She drew her daggers. “I bet I can whoop you.”
He stared at her with unblinking eyes for a few moments… before he burst out laughing. “Bold. I like it. I will burn your broken corpse so that you might make it to Valhalla.”
“I’m hearing a lot of talk, but not seeing a lot of weapons.”
He shrugged and turned for the door. “I just want it on the record that you started this.”
The monk sighed quietly beside Jen. “Barbarism.”
She shrugged a bit. “I’m kind of surprised it took this long.”
“No doubt waiting for the ‘grown up’ to depart.”
The blond woman shook her head. “We have a job to do, you guys.”
Bulorn scoffed. “This won’t take long.”
Sam nodded. “Got to establish the pecking order.”
Jen rolled her eyes. “Or, and I know this is an outlandish idea, but maybe we could all try working together instead?”
Sam narrowed her eyes at Jen. “You crazy.”
“Clearly.”
Jen followed Sam and Bulorn back out into the yard and sat down in the shadow of the largest building, the one that housed the map table.
The pair seemed intent on testing their immortality. Sam was already convinced, but so far as Jen knew Bulorn had not had his challenged. The real question was whether they would truly respawn. An issue that might be worth exploring, if not for the way they were going about it. If they were down a Herald with the other team at full strength it was sure to be a problem.
Sam spun her daggers as she danced about in the open area.
Bulorn drew an axe from his side and hefted a shield. “If this is all some ploy, and you stay dead, I’m going to miss you. The others are so…” he glanced around, “dull.”
“Ditto.” The daggers gleamed as they spun around Sam’s fingers. “Though I’ll revel in being the top dog and use your name as a reminder of what happens to upstarts.”
Annabelle scoffed. “And I’m the evil one?”
Jen glanced aside at her. “You seem pretty cool. And I like your hair.”
She bowed her head politely. “Thank you. I pondered paladin myself, but I figured there would be more of them. Self healing tank and all.”
Jen shrugged. “I just wanted to try melee. Was a caster in the beta.”
Sam danced a few steps back and forth as she faced the bulwark that was Bulorn’s shield. It was no fancier than Jen’s shield, but he seemed to use it better. He made tiny adjustments to keep the wooden slab between him and Sam without seeming to move at all.
Sam’s eyes darted about, looking for an opening.
He wasn’t providing one. “Seeing as you’re a rogue and all,” he lowered the shield a bit, “and not really meant for a stand up confrontation, tell you what. I’ll give you a free attack because I’d like to be done with this some time today.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t need your charity.”
He shrugged. “Fine.”
Sam charged by Bulorn and swung wildly. The daggers bounced off the shield. Bulorn adjusted his footing to keep the shield high as Sam rained blow after blow against it.
Jen tilted her head slightly. Her own shield had lost durability when she had used it before. Sam wasn’t trying to land a blow, she was chipping away at his defense.
Bulorn’s face took on an irritated look as he backed away a step. He must have figured out her strategy as well. And yet, what could he really do about it? If he didn’t block the attacks he would be struck. If he continued to let her attack the shield directly, he would lose his advantage.
Sam spun her daggers about as she paced, a wry smile growing on her face.
Bulorn didn’t seem amused. “I take if you’ve fought tanks before, then.”
“Plenty. I lost my head count from the beta. Tragic. It was well over two hundred. At least fifty were tanks. A few of them supposedly untouchable.”
His face melted to a neutral mask. Jen didn’t know if that meant he was trying to concentrate, or if he was working to avoid giving up any clues as to his intentions.
There was a lot she didn’t know. She would have lost this fight by now, against either of them.
Sam moved in to strike again, but the shield moved away as she did. Bulorn’s axe greeted her. Sparks flew as she barely managed to get her daggers up in time.
A parried blow didn’t negate damage, it only lessened it. Sam’s health bar dipped.
