“Are you sure this is the right place?” Amelia asked. They’d spent the last 20 minutes off the beaten track, walking across a mostly empty field. Grey had guided them to where they were meant to be, but the only thing there was more grass.
They simply replied, “As certain as I can be with a map this poorly drawn.”
Patrick looked over to James. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Trapdoor? I can deal with that.”
James slammed his sword down, sending out a shockwave across the ground.
Cieth
Crash Blade
As the wave went out, part of the grass seemed to shudder and creak. Amelia smashed her sword down on it, breaking through the wood underneath the foliage. It revealed a shoddily built ladder down into a dark tunnel which the group crowded around.
“I guess I’m going first then?” James asked. Amelia shook her head.
“Nah, I’ll go. If these tunnels are single file, then it’s best the killing machine is at the front.”
Amelia leapt down the hole, her sword outstretched to skewer anything that was waiting for them at the bottom. The sword embedded itself in the ground, and she spun around and landed on the muddy floor. The others simply climbed down the ladder. They were standing in a roughly circular room that smelt of rotten eggs, with two equally shoddy tunnels leading off from it. Amelia picked the tunnel to their left and started walking. The others looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her into the dark.
Entering Dungeon
Goblin Cave
Recommended Level: 5
----
Warning:
if you die in a dungeon, your XP to the next level is halved. If you die enough here, you could lose a level. Failure to revive in a dungeon will lead you to be respawned outside.
“Guys, should we be here?” James asked. “This seems like the kind of thing we should come back to later.”
Amelia shrugged. “We’ll be fine.”
The tunnel was dark and damp, only lit by a few torches that were on the verge of burning out. Whenever they passed one, Patrick would chuck a wisp of flame at it and it would burst back to life.
“You’d think they’d keep these torches in better condition,” James commented. “Without them it’s easy to get lost down here.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the goblins have night vision,” Grey said.
“Then what’s the point of having torches down here? Is there someone else down here?”
“Possibly. I’m just guessing, but we’d better stay alert.”
“Guessing based on classic fantasy tropes. This game so far really doesn’t seem like it’s doing anything original,” Patrick interjected. “I thought we were all past generic fantasy worlds by now, but so far it’s felt very generic.”
“Patrick, you’ve never been in a VRMMO, right?” James pointed out. “You’re acting very casual for someone who’s never experienced this sort of stuff.”
Patrick shrugged. “I get immersed enough in other media that I guess I just roll with it.”
“There’s a difference between immersion and actually being there. I remember the first time I played one of these, it felt like a dream come true. Truly, physically existing in these new worlds is an experience I don’t think anything else can provide.” James pointed behind them at Grey. “It’s the main reason why he gets so into character.”
“And you’re saying you can’t experience that with a solid game of Dungeons and Dragons?”
“Maybe I just don’t have a vivid enough imagination.”
“I hope this isn’t a jab at my DMing skills,” Grey said.
“Even then,” Patrick continued, “video games always have restrictions based on what people can develop. I can accept that on console, but when you’re physically in that world that must feel restrictive.”
“You are correct,” Grey said, “and that’s why Sable Online is so popular and revolutionary. Every player action is funnelled through the Command System. This System has found a way to allow player expression while funnelling actions back into its mechanics, just like a Dungeon Master. It’s why James was able to knock that spider into the lava back in Solitaire Crevice-”
Amelia raised an eyebrow. “You remembered the name of the place?”
“-because the System deemed that that course of action made sense given the scenario, not just because of the game’s rules. Same thing with you lighting torches here: you’re a Sage, you have a fire spell, why shouldn’t you be able to light torches with it?”
As they were walking they passed a torch that Patrick was about to light up before reluctantly deciding not to.
“I knew the machines would replace us some day,” Patrick responded. “Just wait, soon that System will find a way to nuke us or something.”
“I mean, this game is so goddamn easy now that we’ve got these super powered weapons, it can’t be that bad right?” Amelia asked. “It looks like the difficulty curve looks like it’s going to hell and ba-“
The ground suddenly gave way under Amelia’s feet. Patrick leapt forward and grabbed her hand as the pit of spikes revealed itself below her. As soon as the trap was sprung, two goblins appeared out of the darkness on the other side of the pit, their bows drawn. Two others appeared beside the party, having seemingly been hidden in the walls.
“Damn it!” Grey shouted “We’ve walked right into another ambush!”
“James, hold them off, I’ll help Amelia up.”
Grey grabbed onto Patrick’s hand and started to pull Amelia up. The goblins on the other side of the pit fired their bows, but James put his shield between them and the party, the arrows embedding themselves into the metal. The two goblins behind them leapt at Patrick, and James awkwardly swung his sword to parry them. As one of the goblins reeled back, it swung at James’ legs, knocking him down from his awkward position and leaving the squishier party members exposed.
Cieth
240/300 HP
----
Status Effect
Prone
Unable to take actions. DEF reduced to 0. Ended by standing up.
Amelia grabbed onto the ledge and tried to pull herself back up, but as they did so two arrows landed in her back. She could almost feel them pierce her lungs. She lost her grip for a moment from the shock, but Grey and Patrick managed to haul her up just as a scimitar slashed its way into Patrick’s side. Grey kicked the goblin away and James stood up, slashing him.
Cieth
Prone Status Removed
----
Goblin 1
Level 3
115/125 HP
“I’ll block the arrows,” James said. “Patrick, you fire back. Amelia, these guys are all yours.”
Grey held out their hands as an energy field covered the party for a moment.
Cleric Skill
Area Heal:
A burst of radiant energy that rejuvenates those near you
Heal all allies near you for SPL HP, and regain that much HP in the healing pool.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
30 second cooldown
----
Trident743
60/100 HP
----
GlassAngel
110/150 HP
----
Cieth
250/300 HP
“I was kinda expecting something more,” Patrick said as he chucked a firebolt over James’ shield, slamming into the chest of one of the goblins.
“Right, you’re getting healed last then,” Grey replied, turning their healing beam onto Amelia.
“But I have the least health!”
“You should know not to complain when you have the least health, Patrick.”
“Stop arguing,” Amelia shoved Grey to one side and leapt towards the goblin, preparing to bring her sword down on him. “I don’t have time for your damn healing.”
GlassAngel
Ris
As Amelia tried to execute the move she slammed into the tunnel’s low roof, knocking her back down.
GlassAngel
112/150 HP
Prone
She tried to get up, but as she did so she was kicked in the face by a goblin. The goblin raised its scimitar, but Grey kicked it away, pulling Amelia to her feet.
Goblin 2
120/125 HP
Prone
----
GlassAngel
Prone status removed
Grey turned back to the goblins. “You need to keep an eye on your surroundings.”
“I’m more focused on the goblins trying to kill me, Grey!” Amelia retorted.
Their conversation was cut short by a new volley of shields slamming into James’ shield. Patrick threw another bolt of energy over the shield, sniping one of the archers on the other side.
One of the scimitar goblins leapt at Grey, but they swiftly dodged out of the way. “Do you have a skill that won’t throw you into the ceiling?”
“Yeah, let’s give this a shot,” Amelia replied. She ran up to one of the goblins and struck it with a flurry of attacks faster than the eye could see.
Saber Skill
Rapid Slash
Strike the opponent with a series of rapid blows.
Perform 3 normal attacks with guaranteed Perfect Strike.
50 second cooldown.
----
Saber Trait
Perfect Strike
The power to strike the opponent where it hurts them most.
Attack at the perfect point with your auto attacks to deal 1.5*STR damage.
----
Goblin 2
8/125 HP
Prone status removed
“I can see now why you left that one so long,” Grey said. James turned around and both he and Grey assaulted the goblin that Amelia had just sliced up, while Patrick threw out another bolt of energy.
Goblin 2
0/125 HP
----
Bow Goblin 1
0/100 HP
----
Trident743
90/150 mana
----
GlassAngel
150/150 HP
With Amelia’s healing down, the beam of light pulled itself out of Amelia and instead rushed into James as he returned to defending Patrick. The remaining sword goblin snarled as it watched its friends die, swiping at Amelia. She tried to parry with her sword, but with her abysmal defence stat it was easily knocked away and she was stabbed again. She snarled and ran her blade through the creature’s shoulder. She yanked her sword out and swung down, but the goblin easily parried and went for another stab. However, before he could he was struck by a blast of blinding white light, giving Amelia another opening to strike.
“I literally just healed you,” Grey reminded her incredulously.
“Yes, and I have low health and nothing to defend me because our tank is currently a living piece of cover.”
Patrick tried to throw another fireball at the remaining bow goblin, but as he did so an arrow embedded itself in his shoulder.
“Stop doing that,” He shouted back, yanking the arrow out and returning fire, with more fire.
Trident743
Firebolt
----
Bow Goblin 2
40/100 HP
----
Trident743
70/150 Mana
James turned to look at the fight behind him and told Patrick, “Keep shooting, I’ll be back shortly.”
Amelia swung at the goblin’s head, but it quickly dodged out of the way. As he did, James drew his old shortsword and used it to spear the other goblin through the chest, pinning him to the floor. The goblin tried to struggle free, but James hauled the monster over his shoulder and tossed it and the shortsword into the spike pit, where it was swiftly impaled.
Goblin 1
0/125 HP
James smiled to himself as everyone else in the room looked at him in shock and mild disgust.
“How the fuck did you do that?” Amelia asked. “Your strength stat is pathetic!”
James shrugged. “Just because I don’t hit hard doesn’t mean I can’t lift anything. The only reason I didn’t do this sooner is because of those bowmen. Now, we have another one over ther-“
They turned around to see the last bow goblin fleeing down the tunnel.
Encounter Complete
All Party Members gain 325XP
All Party Members gain 1000 Gold
----
Level Up!
All Party Members: Level 3
All Party Classes: Level 3
Cieth: +5 STR
Skibabylon: +5 DEF
GlassAngel: +5 DEF
Trident743: +5 DEX
“That is not how I was expecting this to end,” Patrick said.
“Cowards!” Amelia shouted. As they looked at the fleeing goblin, Grey checked the hiding spots the goblins had mysteriously appeared from. They kicked them down to reveal they were just painted wood, and a small crawl space was hidden behind them.
“We can probably fit down these,” Grey explained. “Might allow us to skip a bit of the dungeon. Wanna see where it goes?”
To everyone’s surprise, the goblin tunnels were not designed for anyone other than goblins. The party were forced to crawl through it in a single file. The hilt of Amelia’s sword raked along the ceiling, and Patrick had to crawl with his stave to avoid getting stuck. James was leading the party forward this time, so they didn’t repeat the last fight’s debacle.
“How long will these go on?” Amelia asked.
“I’m not sure if we’re meant to be going through here,” James added.
“It’s a fully modelled and textured part of the game, this must be an alternate route,” Grey told them. “If it was just where the goblins spawn, there wouldn’t be anything back here.”
“I would rather fall through the floor than do this,” Patrick said.
At that exact moment, James fell through the floor, as what looked like rock revealed itself to be a conveniently wooden hatch. He tumbled down a short step ladder and landed on the edge of a cavern filled with tables and chairs, seeming to be some sort of goblin mess hall. It was the only part of the tunnel system lit by natural sunlight, with a few rays streaking in through the middle being enough to light most of the room. A small group of goblins were playing cards on the other side of the cave when he fell down, and two large wooden doors stood behind them. They looked at him with glee as the rest of the party climbed down.
“It feels like there should be more,” Grey said. “It’s too quiet.”
As they said this, they heard loud footsteps as a large wooden door on the other side of the room swung open. Coming out of the darkness was a wolf, twice the size of them, with a goblin riding on its back holding a lance. The wolf had a long snout, dark unkempt fur, bright red eyes that pierced the darkness and jagged fangs that extended out of its mouth.
Dire Wolf Mount
Level 4
600/600 HP
James Stats: Level: 3 HP: 300/300 STR: 10 DEF: 15 DEX: 5 SPL: 15 INT: 1
Grey stats: Level: 3 HP: 100/100 STR: 5 DEF: 15 DEX: 5 SPL: 10 INT: 0 Healing Pool: 100/200
Amelia Stats: Level: 3 HP: 100/150 STR: 25 DEF: 5 DEX: 10 SPL: 5 INT: 0
Patrick stats: Level: 3 HP: 35/100 STR: 20 DEF: 5 DEX: 15 SPL: 15 INT: 0 Mana: 70/150
