Chapter Eighteen - Wandering Boss

Still seething in anger at being denied the chance to learn how developers went about tweaking the world to their whims, I set out for the east with a healer and a paladin.

I knew I should calm down. I knew I should try to be friendly with the two of them. After all, they were my only allies on this quest and without them I probably wouldn’t even be able to search for Bugbear, let alone do so with some measure of safety.

I couldn’t though. I was so angry. What right did Francis have to keep his knowledge from me? What right did any of them have? I, of all people, had a right to understand my world. My freckles glowed a furious red and my companions were content to follow me at a distance rather than beside me.

The area around the Shady Woods Copse was a forest but as we continued further to the east the terrain morphed. Instead of trees and underbrush, I found myself walking on overgrown roots. Twisted masses of ancient wood grew all about the forest floor until any semblance of a path was utterly destroyed.

A short while later, we crossed the line and an NPC box helpfully informed me that we were entering Mist Breath Jungle. It then went on to explain that the jungle got its name from the unusual levels of fog and strange air pockets beneath the jungle that made the entire forest seem like it was breathing geysers of steamy mist.

True to form, the Jungle was a foggy place. The canopy above let some light through, but not enough to make the place seem bright.

“So, Mist Breath Jungle. I’ve never been out this way before,” Bellcandy said softly. “It's recommended to be level nineteen or so if you want to solo this place.”

I didn’t comment, still fuming about Francis, but I listened when Akwa replied, “Yeah. Its not really very valuable to come here. The monsters aren’t as dangerous as in other areas but the terrain makes it so annoying that most people I know past its level skipped it.”

I furrowed an eyebrow at Akwa. “You know people past level nineteen?”

I was currently level thirteen, and had been ever since I’d killed Momma Bossbear and become an invader. Some misconceptions about how that had happened had been cleared up for me since then, but I remembered thinking about how awful I was. How, in killing one of my Kin, I’d become an invader and would never be welcome among them again.

Level nineteen, from what I’d been told, was incredibly difficult to reach. Death was punished with severe experience loss and usually resulted in a lost level. Even two at the higher levels.

I’d been killed once and hadn’t lost any experience, now that I thought about it. Perhaps Francis hadn’t allowed me to lose experience? Or maybe the nature of that strange room where the walls looked like scenery had prevented the normal workings of Tread the Sky?

I didn’t know. Yet one more thing I didn’t know. I bristled, freckles continuing to flare as I stared at Akwa.

“Uhm. Well… a few, yeah. My alt is actually above nineteen, though not by much,” she said awkwardly.

Bellcandy blinked. “Really? Well what are you using this toon for? Switch to your other one! You could probably just tank everything here and then we wouldn’t have to worry about dying at all!”

Akwa had mentioned her alt when we first met, but I hadn’t asked at the time. I’d deflected away from my lack of knowledge and showed her my Jellyfae form. I wasn’t in the mood to not understand now.

“What’s an alt?” I barked. The two winced at my tone and I made an effort to calm down. “I mean. What do you mean by alt, and toon?”

Akwa looked confused before realization dawned. “Ohhh. I guess you wouldn’t have encountered… right. That makes sense. You’ve never met someone with two characters before?”

“Characters?” I asked, feeling more confused than ever.

“Shit. Uhm. Well…” Akwa struggled, but Bellcandy came to her rescue.

“Gell, you know how Amy and Iron are like, super old right? But they look relatively young here?” Bellcandy said softly.

“Look… young? I… don’t understand. How can you look young or old? You… look like you. That’s how it works!” I insisted.

Bellcandy shook his head. “Well, crap. There goes that idea. Here, yes. In our world though, how old you are affects how you look. If you’re only a few years old you’ll look young. Sound young. For example, I’m nineteen years old, and look absolutely amazing.”

I did the math quickly. Nineteen years times the number of years in a day, times the number of cycles in a day. He was… eighty three thousand two hundred twenty cycles old? A fraction of Iron’s Three hundred and fifty four thousand seven hundred and eighty. Young. But still old by comparison to me.

“Iron, for example, looks wrinkled and, well, old, in our world. He sounds old. That’s why his voice is scratchy and he coughs sometimes. But here his character doesn’t look like the one in the real world. In Tread the Sky, nobody really ages.”

“Okay…” I said, listening intently, realizing that did explain why some of the NPC humans were short stooped things with incredibly smooth skin while others were wrinkled and their skin didn’t seem to fit them very well. That wasn’t just how they looked. That was Francis’s interpretation of old and young NPCs. They’d been made old, or young, but that actually meant something in the players’ world.

I shivered. If I were real, did that mean one day I would look wrinkled and worn like the old lady who’d been selling the pies in Variak?

Perhaps being born in Tread the Sky wasn’t as bad as I’d thought?

“Gell? Did you hear me?” Bellcandy said, and I realized I had tuned him out.

“Sorry, was just… thinking about stuff,” I said. “What did you say?”

He rolled his eyes with a smile on his face. “That’s okay. I went through all that so I could better explain alts, but just ended up on a tangent. Well, an alt is a different character played by the same person. For example, I could start an alternate character that was a female Orc Warrior, but it would still be me in that body. When I log in, I could choose to become Bellcandy, or I could instead be the Orc warrior. Do you understand?”

“I… think so. And… the experience you earn as a healer doesn’t transfer to the orc?” I turned to Akwa. “That’s why you have a… character who is a higher level than you are?”

“Exactly! Honestly, would’ve thought that would be harder to explai–!” suddenly my invisible interface blared red.

Danger. We were being attacked.

I ducked, instinct – the regular kind – saving me from a huge body that sailed right over my head.

‘Convenient of him to wait until most of our conversation was finished,’ I thought wryly.

I backed away, gaining distance between myself and whatever the enemy was. I was already activating my Fae-Form ability, much more comfortable as a Jellyfae than a human for a fight.

My friends had scattered. Bellcandy had dashed behind a massive tree root, while Akwa had taken the brunt of the creature’s next attack on her shield. She drew and swung a short sword and only in the moment it took to dodge back into the underbrush did I finally see what had attacked us.

“Ambush Raptor,” Akwa warned. “It already failed to get us in its first attack so now it will try to harry us towards its pack. If you feel it trying to lead you somewhere, go the other way!”

‘Clever. Why didn’t the bugbears have behavioral code that let them do that?’ I thought.

The beast was taller than me, though it crouched low, and hissed reminding me of Avwren the Bat. The raptor had a long row of jagged teeth and a pair of short claws that seemed almost comical in comparison. A tail almost as long as it’s body kept its steady on two strong legs.

“Okay!” Bellcandy called out in response to Akwa. He began to chant arcane words before shouting Protect! A blue barrier formed around him for just an instant, then disappeared. Another immediately formed around Akwa and me, startling me.

I zipped into the sky as soon as I was in my Jellyfae form getting safely out of the Ambush Raptor’s range. I didn’t want to hurt it but I didn’t want to get mauled either.

“Behind you!” I shouted, noticing the red scaled creature about to leap from behind towards Akwa.

The girl whipped around without a moment’s hesitation and her shield was ready when the beast’s claws descended. It screeched in pain when its long mouth clanged against Akwa’s heavy shield.

The paladin didn’t hesitate. Akwa brought her sword down in a blazing overhand swing.

“No!” I screamed, watching in horror as her sword sliced through the raptors face, piercing the skin but only superficially damaging it. The beast flinched away and whipped its tail at Akwa, bashing her off balance but she kept her footing.

I didn’t want this! They promised they would run if we encountered my kin!

“Run away! You promised me you’d run!”

“We can’t Gell!” Akwa called. “These things don’t stop following you! Unless you want to leave already!?”

“Then we leave! I don’t want to hurt them! They’re innocent!” I screamed down at her.

“They’re nothing!” Akwa shouted back, eyes frantically scanning the dense foliage. “And if you don’t help us then we’re going to die! Which is worse, Gell?”

“I… you… you respawn!” I insisted!

“So do they! The only difference is they don’t feel it or lose anything!”

Dammit, she was right. But… but I just couldn’t. What if something worse happened? What if I changed again? What if I grew so callous to them that I didn’t even care? Was that alright? Should it be? But for a twist of fate, I’d be just like them.

The Raptor struck again, this time aiming for Bellcandy.