“Deep Harbor acquired a mythical status among the players in the early days of the game. Gear of all levels could be purchased with enough coin. Guilds and solo players spent vast sums of coins or real money to secure passes to the city. Shrewd merchants earned everything back and more.”
From “NEMO – The Beginning” by Anonymous
Year 1, Month 1, Day 12, 07:00
Hyperia and Torgon materialized in an open courtyard. Walls of polished granite surrounded the space with guards patrolling the walkways atop them. A uniformed attendant approached them. Her tabard displayed steel merchant’s scales piled with copper, silver and golden coins, the symbol of the Deep Harbor Auction House. She smiled and gestured at the pair of new arrivals, “Welcome to Deep Harbor honored guests. My name is Constance, and I am here to explain the basic rules of the city and to ensure that the time you spend here is both valuable and enjoyable. Please accompany me.”
She led Torgon and Hyperia out of the courtyard and into a small chamber decorated with paintings. Constance gestured at the paintings on the wall, “These depict the founding and growth of our great city. The first is the artist’s impression of the powerful storm that drove a fleet off course, leaving two battered ships to find shelter in this natural harbor. The rest of the series shows the evolution of the city through the centuries as trade picked up and helped grow the teeming metropolis that you are now inside. We have a selection of welcome gifts for newcomers to our city and our world. You have demonstrated your prowess by establishing and defending a guild base of your own.”
Constance leaned down to read information off a sheet that had materialized in her hand. “Oh, I see that the two of you are in a guild that survived a monster raid on the first possible day. You’ll get three categories of gifts from the city.” She pulled out a series of bags and set them in front of the pair. She passed the first pair of bags to Torgon and Hyperia. “These bags each contain a set of blueprints for the five common crafting tools.”
Torgon’s face lit up, “All five? Including the fishing pole?”
“Of course, we value all those who have the ability and resources to make it to Deep Harbor so early in your journey through this world.” Constance next passed a set of five bags over. “These are the rewards for being in the guild that secured the passes. Those who purchase passes will not receive these rewards.” They opened the bags to find blueprints for arrows and crossbow bolts that would add an area of effect component to attacks. The blueprints included flame burst arrows, ice shard arrows, acid splash arrows and stone shard arrows as well as the crossbow bolt versions. “It is our most sincere hope that these blueprints will make it easier for you and your guild to return to our city on a regular basis and conduct business with us.”
“Finally, this bag is for being in a guild that defeated the monster waves on the first possible day.” Constance handed the final loot bag over. This bag was larger than the others and covered in runic designs. They opened the bag and then sat there in stunned silence for several seconds as they took in the gift.
Contained within the bag were a selection of herbs and seeds for alchemical and general cooking purposes. A series of basic and common blueprints for more than a dozen varying types of melee weapons came next, giving the guild options for personal preference. Finally, a recipe for a basic clockwork sentry sat in the place of pride within the gift bag. The recipe would allow them to construct a simple golem that could fire a crossbow. It wouldn’t be as strong as an orc, but it would give them an invaluable tool for defending their guild base and associated territories.
Torgon and Hyperia each gave Constance a slight bow. Torgon spoke, “Thank you. We accept these gifts in the spirit with which they are intended, and we are delighted to be guests in your fine city. Can you explain the rules for us and perhaps give us some advice on how to spend our limited time here?”
Constance nodded and continued, “Certainly. The auction will begin promptly at 13:00 and will continue for three or four hours. You are free to explore the city until 11:00 when indicator paths will direct you to the auction house. There will be a brief reception for newcomers and then you will be directed to your seats, based on your invitation. Items can be consigned for auction with a minimum bid price of 5 gold. The Deep Harbor auction house takes a 20% fee on all auctions based on the final sale price of auctions that are successful or the starting bid price of auctions that are unsuccessful. You must have the gold in your personal or guild accounts to register bids. There is no credit extended by the auction house itself. As for what to visit, I highly recommend traveling to the terrace and watching the ships sail in and out of the harbor while enjoying tasty food from the street vendors. Later, when you’re more established, the restaurants are to die for.”
She brought the pair to the exit from the teleportation area and directed them towards the terrace shopping area. Torgon and Hyperia gawked at the wide stone streets, inlaid with colorful tiles that marked various city blocks. Lanes for wagons carrying goods sat next to lanes for mounted riders and beasts too large for the sidewalks. The air held the crisp tang of salt from the sea breeze. Soon, smells of roasting meat and vegetables reached them as they ventured across the terrace and the wide assortment of vendors hawking their wares nearby.
They paid a few coins for skewers of roasted meat then leaned out over the railed terrace to watch the colorful sails of trading ships moving along the harbor. The city itself sprawled endlessly in every direction. They couldn’t begin to estimate the number of people living and working here although it was assuredly at least a million. Large elevators lined the cliffs, moving goods and people to the upper city from the harbor district below. They stared at the sights for a few minutes before returning to their business.
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Torgon turned to Hyperia and asked, “Do you think the gifts have any real value? I know that we need them, but I can’t help but think they’re incredibly easy for our hosts to acquire.”
Hyperia snorted, “Value is what someone will pay for things. I think that Deep Harbor is underestimating the demand that players are going to create for low level skills and recipes. The gifts are incredibly valuable and useful for us and they’re going to be worth more in real terms than our hosts believe. Demand won’t taper off until the influx of players to the game world tapers off, and I don’t see that happening for a long time.”
They wandered along, perusing the wares of the vendors and eyeing the prices. Everything on display reeked of flashy but poor-quality merchandise designed to entice the unwary. Nothing they encountered so far was worth spending coins on. Hyperia and Torgon made careful notes on the prices and availability of items in the different level ranges. They compared the costs of finished goods and the raw materials that it took to craft them. After several minutes they found a shop selling potion recipes. The store’s inventory of recipes were low level and all basic, but they had a variety of abilities and flavors.
They picked up healing, mana, energy, water breathing and regeneration boosting potions, 5 copies of each basic level zero, five and ten. The vendor wanted a total of seven gold and fifty silver but Hyperia talked him down to seven gold even. They stashed the recipes in their inventory and noticed that it was almost time to return to the auction house for the reception. The pair began making their way through the jostling crowds. A lit pathway soon appeared in their vision, and they followed it directly to the auction house where other players gathered outside.
Hundreds of players milled about in knots and clumps, waiting to be led inside the auction house. Some were friendly, some standoffish and there were those who were obviously obnoxious asshats. They had the misfortune of being approached by a group who fell into the latter category. The arrogant young men clustered around Hyperia, obviously trying to get her attention.
“Hey there baby, why are you hanging around this broke fool. Come with us. We have lots of positions you would be perfect for.” The young man stumbled, obviously a bit deep into his cups.
“I’ll pass,” Hyperia tried to ignore them.
“Pfft, Pass? Don’t you know what’s good for you? We rule Carter’s Bluff and soon we’ll rule the entire Kingdom of Thorn. We control every starter zone in the kingdom but one and a monster army will take care of that problem.” The bleary-eyed man took a moment to drink from a flask then leaned on Hyperia again, the alcohol in his breath thick enough peel paint.
Hyperia fluttered her eyes in a mockery of flirtation and asked, “What group are you associated with?”
The young man straightened up, wobbled, nearly fell over and then straightened again while his companions laughed and egged him on. “I am the guild leader of Executive Lineage. We’re one of the founding guilds of the Young Master’s Alliance. I rule my guild, and I have several sub guilds that answer to me. I even brought guilds from different starter zones to serve my territory. We will be ready to trigger the starting zone invasion questlines soon and we will crush them, not like the upstarts in Miller’s Crossing. We lured away thousands of players from there. They had some brainless guild that triggered their zone invasion way too early. They’re doomed.” He chuckled as his eyes struggled to focus.
Hyperia narrowed her eyes, “Is that so? How many people do you control and just how big is the Young Master’s Alliance?”
The drunken man put his arm around Hyperia’s shoulders and gestured around them, “It’s big, really big, I’m all about big things. There are over 10,000 people in my guild directly and at least that many in my subordinate guilds. We have seven of the eight starter zones controlled and nearly 100,000 people directly serve us. We’re going to rule this world just like we rule everything else. You could be directly under me if you play your cards right.” He leered at Hyperia, stopped short, then leaned over and started puking his guts out.
Torgon took advantage of the distraction to pull Hyperia away. “I’m just glad they are as smart and disciplined as I have come to expect.”
“Ugh, it’s so disgusting. You remember why I got banned from the circuits right?” Hyperia asked.
“Yeah, I do. You punched one of those smug assholes right in the face and broke his nose.” Torgon rubbed his chin in thought, “When we finish dealing with the siege, we’ll need to be more proactive in neutralizing mega guilds and alliances those sorts of people in charge. I doubt they have top players but that’s a lot of bodies to wade through.”
Hyperia nodded, “I’ve already worked up a few plans, and I have dossiers on the neighboring zones. We’ll be forced to expand our recruitment, but we do have advantages. All the information I’ve scoured puts our guild at the very top for crafting capabilities. The time we can put in game doubles what anyone else can and that doesn’t include the very real advantages we get from the Faerie Tree. I think we need to lean into that, get more crafting among the core members and work on ranking our structures up. Being in front will help us stay in front.”
Torgon sighed heavily and let his shoulders sag. “Just once I want to be able to coast along and enjoy the ride. A slow ride, not one on the back of an angry tiger.”
“It has its moments.” Hyperia indicated the crowds near them, “We’ll get to tweak the noses of some trust fund brats who know they’re above the laws. We can teach a bunch of kids how to take advantage of opportunities to make the most of their lives and we can tilt against your favorite windmill and stand for the regular folks. We’re spending a lifetime here, why not make it the world we want to spend that much time living inside?”
“You’re right. I just get so tired of having to deal with all the unnecessary ugliness.” Torgon stared into the distance, lost in thought.
“We haven’t lost yet, and we don’t need to lose at all. We have something they don’t, besides experience and talent, we have a purpose.” Hyperia nudged Torgon’s shoulder. “We have a core of people that are stuck with us, we have more top end talent than any guild our size should, we have an advantage in how much time we can play, and we don’t have to worry about their dirty tricks departments screwing over our core.”
Torgon smiled broadly, “You’re right. It’s the best gift we’ve ever been given, a chance to control our own fate.”
Hyperia laughed loudly, drawing looks from some of the nearer players. “Now, for honor, glory and the future of mankind itself, let’s go do some shopping.”
