Real Life RPG (4 page)

              “There you go Fool” Gage said as tried to catch his breath, I could see he was out of stamina. “Why did you leave the party for? We could go grind some more and get enough levels so we can leave this blasted island and actually join up inside the real game”.

              “Not interested Gage, have fun doing whatever it is you are doing?” I replied and looked at amusement as the other party caught up.

              “What do you mean not interested?” Gage said as I could see his stamina bar slowly start refilling. “We cleared out this dungeon already, everyone wants to leave this place and me and you make a great team”.

              “Is that what we were, a team?” I said as I scratched my head for comedic effect. “I seem to remember you saying you would give me ten percent of whatever we got and you took it all. Nah, I won’t be joining back up with you”.

              “Well then how about us?” the mage spoke as he gestured to his brothers.

              “I told you guys three fights then we could talk, you tried to fight four and then didn’t seem to care when I left, if you need a fourth Gage here is looking for a partner”.

              “Well you really didn’t do too much of anything” the mage said as he walked past Gage. “All you really did was sit around but we all noticed our fight was easier with you in our party”.

              “It was a lot easier” one of the twins said speaking up.

              “That’s because of his ability, he makes other people in his party faster, stronger and gives them better defense” Gage spoke up. “But he won’t be going with you low levels, he will be joining my party”.

              “I don’t think I will join any of you” I said in smug satisfaction. “I am going to find another group that will give me a fair chance and a lot of loot”.

              “What do you mean another group” the mage said his voice becoming louder. “We will give you whatever you want if you would join up with us instead of this midget. We want to get off this island more than we want the loot”.

              I knew how to get off of this island already from trying to close the glitch, once a player reached level 10 and had 50 gold, there was a boat manned by an NPC on the outskirts of the island who was manned by a captain who charged 50 gold a piece. Once you left though you could never come back no matter how hard we had tried to instantly teleport the criminals back to where they belonged. PATRICK made getting rid of the boat impossible, I had tried everything to erase that file but looking back I am glad I didn’t. 50 gold however was no easy task, the game had four types of currency, platinum, gold, silver and copper. 100 coppers made a silver, 100 silver made a gold, 100 gold made a platinum. When I died I lost money and currently only had 25 silver and I would have lost my weapons and armor along with it if the items were not soul bound meaning they could not be taken from me even in death. My robe managed to stay on me, but at any level over 5 it would drop along with the rest of my money. I looked at the four around me and decided I would rent myself out to the highest bidder.

              “I will only go along with you Gage for 100% of all loot and we have to do this dungeon again” I said and could see the color drain from the small warriors face. “As for you three” I said facing the other party. I will join you and help you pass this dungeon for healing and 50% off all loot including all mage specific items”.

              “I’m not giving you 100% of my loot” Gage said as the brothers looked like they were talking it over.

              “Well then good luck, if these guys take me up on my offer I will be here after we finish this dungeon if you change your mind” I said just as I felt a spell wash over me. My health started to climb a little as the mage poured a little more life into me. In all the mage had to perform his spell 10 times to get me back at 100% health, and had to drain his mana to do so. I accepted the party request and went back inside the dungeon.

              “So what can we expect?” the mage said as a bat came into view, the same one me and Gage had defeated earlier. As a foursome we made short work of the flying rodent, which leveled me up again, unfortunately it was not an attribute point level up but it wasn’t like I was going to use the points anyway.

              “This cave is crawling with bats but none are as hard as the one we just beat” I said remembering when me and Gage completed this dungeon. “The only real big difficulty would be the two zombies at the end, both are level 10 but me and the small warrior outside beat it. I don’t think he was able to salvage the armor the last one wore since my magic had destroyed it, so if any of you want to keep it let me know after the battle starts”.

              Going through the dungeon this time was far easier, after I had leveled up I noticed each character in my party had their name glowing dimly above their heads. The mage was Dylan Bolly, the twins were Jared and Jerrod. By the time we beat the final boss again I was a level 6 as the others in my party were a level 5. I once again did not use any of the attribute points which were given to me as I had not seen a need. I did however notice with shock that my stupid ability leveled up even more.

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              I shook my head at the ability but the Bolly brothers were true to their word, and I now had 40 silver in my pocket along with some junk warrior gear one of the brothers were wearing before he equipped himself with the gear the final boss had on. I teleported back to the entrance of the cave and figured I could make some dough just helping people through this so called dungeon. When I got there I could see Gage was already waiting for me. He was only in the simple clothes given to every player, his weapons and armor were nowhere to be seen.

              “Finally Fool I got nervous that you wouldn’t show” Gage said nervously. “I am ready to accept your deal”.

              “I don’t think I want to deal with you anymore Gage” I said as I held my staff menacingly. “You have no weapons or armor, what could I possibly get out of the deal?”

              “You can have whatever you want, 100% of all loot we find while we are a party together” Gage said quickly.

              “What happened to you?” I asked as his eyes suddenly went downcast.

              “I was attacked by two warriors who are waiting just a little ways outside the path leading deeper into the island” Gage said as he refused to make eye contact. “There are not many quest to be had here, the first quest given to those who completed this dungeon is to go pick elderberry roots for the apothecary. The path where they grow at is guarded by two level 8 warriors who pick on single travelers to steal their gear. They killed me twice while you were in that dungeon, I had to run away from even puppies to get here without dying”.

              I looked him over and threw down the junk warrior gear Jerrod had given me. Although they were vastly different sizes, the game made it so all warrior gear would fit anyone who chose the warrior class. Gage looked grateful as I requested he join my party. I went back through the dungeon with Gage, although he was a higher level than the Bolly’s had been, the dungeon was more difficult with just one other player, especially the boss battle at the end. Gage had died in that battle just as he dealt the killing blow and had respawned back in Mandalo. I quickly gathered his gear along with what the zombie had on and the treasure inside the chest.

              I couldn’t believe it. The gear I would give to Gage when I teleported back to Mandalo, but we had to keep doing this dungeon. The blue stone was part of a hidden easter egg that we abandoned early. If a player could find 10 blue stones, then they would get the duplicate ability and could duplicate any item in their inventory. The ability could only be used once a day but during testing everyone had deemed it over powered since a player could duplicate pearlescent items. In the game there are different levels of items, weapons, armor and mounts to be found. Each level has a different color, white is poor gear, green is average, blue is rare, purple is ultra-rare, orange is legendary and pearlescent is at the top of the food chain. The armored Zombie carried green items, meaning they were okay if used at level. If a level 20 player equipped those items he would find them wanting. It is possible to buy blue items from a vendor for outrageous prices, sometimes they even have purple. Purple though is usually dropped by defeated end bosses or crafted by skilled players. Orange items can only be obtained by participating in a raid, where two or more parties of four link up to clear out a dungeon. There was only one pearlescent item in the game so far, a set of armor that gave the wearer the 50 extra attribute points as well as +300 to defense. Since the most leveled a player could be is 100, that meant even if playing with a human character the most attribute points in the game to be gained by leveling up was 50. Of course there were expensive potions out there that could give a player a single attribute point but the ingredients were made to be costly to prevent overuse. With the duplicate ability a player could duplicate that potion or even that armor which would break the game. As is the armor can only be gotten by premium players who don’t mind spending 300 dollars a month to play the game instead of the regular twenty bucks or free in most cases, but that is a different story entirely.

              I teleported back to Mandalo and could see I was right in front of the respawn point. Gage was still in my party so I pulled up the messenger and let him know where I was. After a few seconds I saw him running up to me. The dungeon had been good to me, I was at one gold and three silver after I finished it with Gage the second time.

              “Here you go” I said as I handed over the bag containing his gear. “And here is what the zombie was wearing”. I watched Gage light up as he looked at the armor, the first time we had not been able to salvage it. Gage was at a level 7 now and looked the part although I could tell he was broke. I gave him the three silver I had on me.

              “I want to do that dungeon at least 9 more times” I said thinking about the stones. We had kept the quest in the game to get the ability; we were on a time crunch and figured getting rid of the stones entirely would solve our problem, somehow though PATRICK had reintroduced them. “This time I will give you 10% of the loot, each other time you come with me I will give you 10% more, the only thing I want is the blue rock in the chest”.

              “Why in the hell would you want something useless like that for?” Gage asked as he admired himself in his new armor.

              “It doesn’t matter” I said as I noticed the Bollys walking up to me with a mean looking woman.

              “That’s the guy right there who likes to team up” the mage Dylan said pointing at me. “He can get you through that dungeon easy and level you up in the process, now out with my reward”.

              I watched the woman take off her necklace and hand it to the mage. I couldn’t scan it at this level without a special ability but it looked like a common mana necklace that gave the wearer 5% more mana when worn. The woman though looked nothing like a wizard, she looked like a rogue judging from her appearance.

              “I need your help and heard you will give it for half the loot” the angry looking woman stated getting straight to the point. She was tall, about my height but had the sides of her black hair shaved and had full sleeve tattoos. This was her real life appearance, the game scanned in what was laying in the virtual pods. I looked above her and could see her name glowing faintly, Tabitha Skinner. All inmates had their real names and could not change their moniker like regular players.