The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online Page 18

  Your reputation with the Village of Whitehall has increased to Respected

  The mayor hugged each them in turn, thanking them for returning their homes to them. He asked them to stay for a celebration, but they explained that they had a prior engagement. He gave them all a follow-up quest.

  Quest Received: Rebuilding Whitehall

  Assist and protect the villagers in Whitehall as they rebuild

  Reward: ?

  They accepted the quest and the mayor told them his people would need several days to get together wagons and supplies before they returned home. The group said their goodbyes before heading back toward their new home. They reached Lydia’s shop just as the captain was returning from the Palace. He ushered them inside and they waited in the main room while he went to inform Lydia they had guests. She immediately emerged from the back and gathered Sasha in a big hug, followed by Lainey.

  “I’m so glad you’re all here! I’ve heard rumors that you caused quite a stir in the city this evening!” she laughed. “I hope you’ve all worked up a good appetite?”

  “Aye, we certainly have!” Brick practically shouted. He rubbed his stomach and said, “Me tummy’s been hoping to find itself back here for more of yer delicious food, m’lady!” The rest of the group agreed wholeheartedly.

  “Before we get to dinner,” Sasha said, “these are for you. We found a bit more than you requested.” She handed several dozen bundles of herbs to Lydia.

  “Goodness! More than a few more than I requested, I think!” Lydia laughed. “We’ll use these in our next lesson. Now! Everyone upstairs! Too many of us for the small table down here. We’ll eat in the dining room upstairs. I’m afraid I wasn’t expecting so many, so you lot relax and clean up a bit while I find something to cook for dinner.” She pushed them all toward the stairs in the back.

  “M’lady. Errr.. Lydia. We killed several boars today for their pelts…” Brick said as he pulled out half a dozen hunks of boar meat, “would this do?”

  “BWAAHAHAHA!” Lydia did her best Brick impersonation, startling them all, including the captain. She winked at Brick and took the pork from him. “That will do wonderfully, master dwarf.” She looked at Lainey “Lainey, Sasha already has the cooking skill. But if you like, I can teach you the skill and a tasty recipe for boar?” Lainey smiled a bit shyly and nodded her head.

  As Lainey followed Lydia upstairs to the prepare the meal, the rest of the group elected to run next door, get out of their armor, and grab quick showers. Cooking in Io went much more quickly than in real life, so by the time they returned the meal was nearly ready.

  “That smells heavenly,” Max said as they reached the top of the stairs.

  The captain was waiting to escort them to his formal dining room, which included a long table much like the one in their own new house. They all took seats, except for Brick, who asked which way to the kitchen.

  “I’ll go see if I can help serve,” he mumbled as he headed through the door.

  “He’s going to see if he can snag a few bits before dinner,” Max translated, at which they all had a good chuckle.

  The captain informed him that the trials for the murderers they brought in was scheduled for the day after next. The prosecutor wanted time to gather witnesses. “They will be convicted. I would push for death sentences for all of them, but the king does not execute adventurers. So they will be put to work in the palace dungeons, digging the next level down into the bedrock. It is hard, merciless work. Still, better than they deserve!” the captain said.

  Alexander knew the players would not likely stick around for the year sentence. It was a harsh penalty, but his father and Michael did not want groups of players “raiding” villages and cities just for the fun of killing all the NPC’s in order to prevent others from completing quests. Or just because they were immature assholes. So they made the penalties for killing NPC’s stiff. If you got caught, your reputation dropped to ‘hatred’ for that faction, which meant guards and NPC’s would try to kill you on sight. In addition, your avatar would be sentenced to imprisonment of some kind for a period of one year. Your bind point would be irrevocably reset to the prison, so if you tried to escape and were killed, you would find yourself right back in jail. In addition your in-game player chat was disabled. Since there was no mailbox in prison, your mail was useless unless someone could bribe a guard to bring you letters personally. About the only useful thing you could do was practice a skill like mining, or a crafting skill, if you were able to obtain the materials. One player had famously embraced his sentence and asked to be allowed to cook for the guards. He managed to raise his cooking skill to master chef level, then took a job as chef in a fancy restaurant, where he earned more money than he had been from doing quests and running dungeons. But mostly players didn’t have that kind of patience, so they cancelled their account and applied for a new one at a significant cost in real world dollars.

  Alexander intended to make sure Frank and his friends didn’t get that option. There were benefits to being an heir to the corporation, after all. “No mercy,” he said mostly to himself.

  “Aye, no mercy,” the captain agreed.

  “No mercy,” said Max and Sasha together.

  Brick crashed into the room carrying a huge platter of seasoned roast boar, followed by Lainey and Lydia with smaller platters of potatoes, green vegetables, fresh bread and butter. The meal was amazing. Lainey was surprised to see after a few bites that she’d received buffs from the food. Lydia took a few minutes to explain how buffs worked, and outline some of the different buffs you could get through different food and cooking methods.

  After the meal, the team thanked Lydia, and rose to head home. She hugged each of them as they moved toward the stairs. “Sasha, come by tomorrow and I’ll give you your quest reward for the herbs.”

  “We’re actually headed out early in the morning. Would it be ok if I come by the day after?” Sasha asked.

  “of course, dear. You be safe out there!”

  The captain walked them downstairs and to the front door. As they filed out, he handed Alexander a wooden box. Alexander opened it to find several small ceramic medallions on leather thongs. “When I reported to the king about the criminals and their guild, he decided you needed a safe place in case a large number of them attack. So he sent for his mentor, who is a very strong earth mage among other things, to enchant the walls of your guild house. By now the walls have been strengthened, and spells placed on the gates and building entries that prevent anyone not wearing a medallion, or anyone not given permission by a medallion wearer, from entering. The mage can return at need to make any modifications you’d like, or provide more medallions. The medallions, by the way, cannot be stolen, only given. The king, of course, already has one. He was serious about joining Brick for some dwarven ale!” the captain and Brick both laughed.

  Alexander passed a medallion to each of the group. Then he handed two to the captain. “Please give one to Lydia. The two of you are always welcome in our house.” the captain bowed his head.

  It had been 17 hours since the team had begun their immersion early that morning. They were all exhausted, and decided to retire to their rooms for some sleep. Since their immersion wasn’t scheduled to end for another 9 hours, they were going to test sleeping in-game, which meant sleeping in their pods. Alexander gave up his top floor suite to Lainey and moved to one of the guest suites on the second floor. Choosing one on the front of the building, next to one of the offices, he walked out through the French doors onto the long balcony. Leaning against the stone balustrade, he looked up at the stars. As always, there was Jupiter, filling the night sky.

  “Good night, mom.”

  After a few minutes, he went back inside and crawled into bed.

  Chapter Nine

  Blue Slime Makes for Good Times

  Alexander awoke to the sensation of his nurse removing the neural headpiece. He opened his eyes to see that the cockpit lid was open above him, and that most of th
e blue slime had drained from the pod.

  When she was sure he was awake and aware, she said, “I’m going to remove the mouthpiece now,” to which he nodded his head.

  It came off easily, as the breathing and feeding tubes had already retracted automatically when he woke up. He sat up slowly, swinging his legs out of the cockpit with a bit of assistance from the nurse, then stood up as she wrapped him in a robe. He’d expected to be covered in blue slime, but the intelligent nano-bot infested gel had removed itself from him completely. There wasn’t even any stuck to his hair. Still, he walked unsteadily down the ramp and to the bathroom for a hot shower. It was part of his post-game routine, and it comforted him. He dressed in sweats and a t-shirt then headed for the living room, thanking the nurse for her help on his way out. Lainey and Sasha, who both moved much more quickly than he, were waiting for him in the living room.

  He grinned at Lainey, “Hi, honey, how was your day?” She hugged him, then quickly examined him, looking into his eyes, checking his pulse, instructing him to breathe deeply and raise his hands and hold them for a few seconds. Basically mother hen-ing him. Satisfied, she then smacked the back of his head before sitting back down. He followed suit. “So…? What did you think?”

  Lainey took a deep breath and sighed, dropping her eyes to look at her hands. “Well. I suppose I’m going to be stuck seeing your ugly mug nearly 24/7 for a while.” She raised her eyes and grinned at him, “That was AMAZING! It was fun, and scary, and complicated, and so REAL!”

  “Yeah, that was pretty intense. I mean, the noob zone should have been boring for most of us. But from the moment Brick sat on that bunny till the time we logged off, I was completely engaged,” he agreed.

  “It really was super realistic,” Sasha added. “I mean, I can still remember the taste and smell of Lydia’s dinner last night. I even feel like I’m still buffed! When the public experiences this, nobody’s going to do anything but play the game!”

  “Welcome back, young sir. Lady Elaine, Princess Sasha.”

  Sasha giggled. She loved it when Alfred called her princess. “Hi Alfred!” she waved.

  “I trust your time in the game was enjoyable?” They all nodded. “Very good. Odin tells me he’s very proud of your accomplishments yesterday,” Alfred said.

  “I didn’t know you and Odin spoke?” Alexander questioned.

  “Of course, sir. I speak with Odin regularly as we both observe your game play. Heimdall checks in with me regularly for security and status updates. In fact, he is informing me that your car is approaching to take you to Olympus.”

  “Huh. Well, thank you Alfred. Keep up the good work!” Alexander said as the three of them rose and headed for the front door.

  “You’re quite welcome young sir. I wish you all a pleasant day!”

  Brick awoke to much the same circumstances as Alexander. However, the first thing he noticed as he stepped out of the pod was that the room was filled with an alarmingly large number of stuffed bunny rabbits! They were everywhere! Dozens of them. On his bed, dresser, window sill. As he entered the bathroom to take a shower, he paused in concern for a moment. There were two particularly realistic and gruesome looking bunnies sitting on the vanity, either side of the sink. They had bloodshot eyes and sharp teeth, with what looked like blood on them!

  He heard his nurse chuckle behind him. “They started arriving late yesterday. I think half the staff sent you fluffy bunnies,” the man said. “There are more in the other room. Oh, and Melanie and Bethany personally delivered those two last night!” he motioned at the two scary mutant rabbits.

  Mortified, Brick just shook his head and stepped into the shower. He got dressed, catching himself keeping a wary eye on the two killer rabbits. As he left, he grabbed them up, planning to have a little talk with those two ladies. He thanked the nurse for his help, then headed out the front door, after passing through a living room that held several more bunnies. Max, who lived down the hall, wasn’t out yet, so Brick knocked on his door.

  After a moment, Max answered. Seeing the bunnies, he shook his head, “you too, huh? Come on in.” Brick noted several stuffed pigs, though Max’s infestation was not nearly as severe as his own. Max had gone to retrieve his own custom pig, onto which the ladies had sewn tusks and sharp teeth, as well as the same bloodshot eyes as his bunnies. “Was your place this bad?” Max asked, motioning at the pigs.

  “Worse. Must be a hundred of ‘em!”

  The two friends headed down to the lobby, where a company car was waiting to take them to Olympus. They were all scheduled to undergo a battery of tests today in order to confirm there were no ill effects from the long immersion. If all went well, they would immerse again tomorrow, for 48 hours this time.

  Upon arriving at the compound, the car dropped them at the same tower as before, where they found Lainey, Sasha, and Alexander just getting out of the car. All three were very amused by their stuffed companions.

  As they walked in the front door, Bethany’s eyes grew wide in mock terror. “Eek! Protect me from those horrible bunnies and the pig!” She pretended to hide behind the reception desk as she giggled.

  “Yeah, yeah. Very funny” mumbled Brick, half smiling, half grumpy. It was gonna be a long day filled with bunny jokes.

  “So umm… tell me, Bethany,” Max leaned on the desk, setting the pig down. “When you came to deliver this, did you happen to glance in the pod and see me naked?” his eyebrows rose.

  “Wait, what?” Brick flustered.

  Bethany’s eyes got wide with a ‘totally busted’ look, before she recovered and gave him a coy smile. “Maybe…”

  “And… did you like what you saw?” he grinned as she played along and pretended to think about it.

  “Mmmmaybe!”

  Richard stepped into the lobby in time to hear the interplay, and smiled briefly before cutting in. “Ok children! Playtime’s over. You’re needed in the med labs ASAP!” Max jumped in surprise, then sheepishly grabbed his stuffed pig, winked at Bethany, and followed the others to the elevator.

  The day’s testing brought no surprises, though a surprising number of people managed to visit Brick for no good reason other than to make bunny ears or Monty Python references at him. The group were all released by early afternoon and sent home to rest. They’d be logging back in at 7am the next day. Brick put his two killer bunnies in a place of honor on his dining room table. He set aside of few of the others for his youngest siblings, then recruited Max and their driver to help take the remainder of the stuffed critters to a nearby children’s hospital. Max was initially unwilling, until Brick reminded him that the wards might be full of pretty nurses. The two of them spent an amazing couple of hours passing out pigs and bunnies to the kids, laughing and joking with them. They even held a group story time session, where the two men told a hilarious, if much watered down, tale of a dwarf being chased around by annoyed bunnies. Shockingly, Max forgot all about flirting with nurses.

  Richard rode home with Alexander and the ladies. He wanted to have an in-depth discussion with them about their experiences. He himself had alpha tested the pods and experienced the game through immersion. He wanted to see how their experience compared with his.

  When the group had gathered at the cafeteria for a lunch break, Alexander brought up their strange abilities to modify spells. Richard just laughed. “I was watching you play from my office. As soon as I saw what Lainey did, I asked Odin about it. He reminded me that minor changes with skill and ability mechanics were within his purview as the game’s AI.” Alexander raised an eyebrow at him. “Ok, his exact words were ‘mortals should not meddle in the affairs of the Gods!’” Richard did his best Odin impersonation. “I did manage to get him to confirm that this new mechanic only works for the fully immersed, and even then is only available, for now, to those with Elite accounts. He wants to see how you use it.”

  “I guess technically, Odin’s right,” Alexander mused. “We gave him the basic set of unbreakable game rules, instructio
ns and guidelines on how we’d like to see the game managed, and gave him the freedom to make that happen as he sees fit. With extra angry bunnies for example!” Alexander couldn’t resist. Lainey patted poor suffering Brick on the shoulder.

  Sitting in their living room eating pizza, Richard started off the conversation. “Looks like you’ve gone and started your own little war, son.”

  “They started it!” Sasha leapt to his defense. “Alexander just made sure we finished it!”

  “I think it’s a long way from finished, Sasha dear. I checked with the guys down in the GM pit. PWP currently has about 60 members, ranging from the level 1’s you guys left locked up, to the guild’s leader who is level 90. Most of them are level 40 plus. Not all of them are PK’s, though the majority are. The ones that aren’t probably won’t go against orders to kill blacklisted players for fear of being targeted themselves. They didn’t start as a PK guild. In fact, it seems to be a recent development over the past 6 months or so. A lot of members have quit in that time. They’re based in Antalia, a couple days’ ride from Stormforge. These guys are real assholes, son, and clever. The GM’s say there have been dozens of complaints about torture, but when the game footage was reviewed, it was determined there was technically no actual torture. They managed to walk the knife’s edge between acceptable combat and torture. Much like you did today.” Richard’s face was unreadable.

  “I get it, dad. I do. But these assholes aren’t going to quit if we just kill them and leave them to respawn and go about their business. The only thing they understand is fear, violence, and shame. We have to use their own tactics against them, or we’re wasting our time. Those guys today were stupid enough to kill NPC’s and leave witnesses, so their toons will be out of play for a good long time. But you can bet PWP won’t make that mistake again. They’re obviously training their guys how to walk the line with torturing players, so you can bet they’ll also teach them to make sure there are no witnesses when they kill NPC’s. Unless another player is around to record and report it, they’ll get away clean. The other way would be if Odin were to generate quests to kill or capture NPC killers, and somebody gets lucky and runs across them like we did today. I’ve actually been thinking about expanding our guild, recruiting players who want to take down PWP as badly as we do. Maybe making alliances with other guilds. Once we’re high enough level, we could raid their guild house, take everything they have, and teach them a lesson.”