The boat started moving away from the docks, and Dylan watched as the people on the dock being left behind grew more animated as they panicked. And then they grew smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until his eye couldn’t separate them from the other figures on the docks. And then he couldn’t separate the docks from the rest of the city. Eventually, he could only see the spires of the castle standing out as a point on the continent that he was leaving behind.

Although he didn’t want to spend all day looking back at the mysterious land he’d left behind, he still found it in himself to be irritated when there was a ringing of a bell at the front of the boat, interrupting him. There was a tone in his head, and another quest appeared on the side of his vision.

Sea Voyage to the New World

The captain has called a meeting at the bow of the ship. That’s the front part. Attend it to be briefed on what comes next.

Attend Adventurers Meeting 0/1

Great. Sarcastic quest text. What programmer was giggling every time they thought about this?

As he moved towards “the front part” of the deck, Dylan was struck by just how enormous it was. Considering it was made from wood, he wondered if such a thing could be constructed in the real world. He wasn’t an expert, but wouldn’t something this large collapse under its own weight without modern materials? Then again, it was possible that he was underestimating historical construction techniques. He had plenty of time to consider it on the walk, since it took nearly five minutes to get to the assembling group at the far end of the ship.

The front of the ship was as teeming as the docks had been when he’d flown over barely thirty minutes earlier. The group was a wild assortment of mismatched folk, all armed and armored and with skin tones running the full span of the rainbow. If this wasn’t a group of adventurers, he’d never seen one before in his life.

The captain was unmistakable. They were hanging from the rigging that connected the front mast to the front flank of the ship, looking over the assembly. They were Vathon as well, and Dylan couldn’t tell their gender from their appearance. Their form was pleasantly curvy around the hips, but then so was Kaldalis. Given the huge selection of sliders he’d seen in character creation, no features really meant anything for sure, and the default body type of the race meant that even trying to make a very masculine character still retained some feminine features.

“Listen up, crew and passengers!” the captain announced. Their voice seemed to carry supernaturally loud, and he wondered if that was an ability he might learn later, or if it was just an NPC thing for the quest. “Welcome to the Persimmon. I’m not sure how much any of you have been told about our mission, so those of you in the know will have to bear with me while I clarify everything for the slower folks.

“We are on a journey of discovery and research,” they continued, “on a previously uncharted archipelago far to the southwest. There are ruins and wilds awaiting us there, with adventure in plenty. And that’s why you’re here!”

A little cheer went up around the group. As little as a cheer could be among the hundreds assembled.

“When we land,” the captain continued, “we will need you fine folks and fighters to clear the landing site of danger, and the league officials and laborers will set up our foothold on this otherwise-untouched land. With that done, we can get on with our mission. We have been hired by the Council of Zara to investigate the virgin territory, assess it for valuable resources, and clear it of threats that would impede the council’s forces in harvesting those resources.

“But don’t get too excited,” the captain warned, “the dangers will not be what any of you are used to. There will certainly be some of the usual beasts, lontra and snappers and such, but the islands across the Sea of Gilrail are home to a new threat you’ve never seen on the mainland. The Infernal Horde has kept us from investigating deeply into any of the islands of the region. These mysterious forces have kept smaller ventures from developing any permanent settlements on the islands. But the tightly-formed archipelago - the Islands of Ulun - represents the first real opportunity to establish a research post in the area and finally figure out what the Infernal Horde are, what they’re capable of, and how to identify and defeat them.”

A murmur went around the group at that. Infernal Horde sounded more like a rival faction than some common enemies. Were they going to be the primary antagonists of this storyline, rarely encountered but often at the center of events? Or were they a loose description of some category of mobs that were going to be all over the place? Dylan wasn’t sure. And from the captain’s words, it seemed like nobody else was going to know, either.

“But that’s why we’re venturing forth in strength!” the captain cried, cutting off the concerned rumble of the crowd. “The Adventurers League is here to stay, and no foe, no matter how infernal or hordelike, is going to stop us!”

There was a cry of affirmation from the majority of the group. Dylan could pick out that there were some number of the adventurers wearing finer armor and wielding different weapons. Those must have been the alpha players, who likely had some allegiance and affinity for the League. The captain knew that appealing to them would raise their spirits and bolster their confidence against what was to come.

Dylan, for his part, was still in his starter clothes. It was just a cotton tunic and thin leather breeches. He had to get ready if they were going to be attacking a beachhead. He opened his inventory again and scrolled back to the gear tab, wondering at how to equip it.

“Adventure awaits!” the captain crowed over the cheering crowd. “In two weeks’ time, we’re going to show the Islands of Ulun that League spirit!” Their hand thrust forwards, pointing at the ocean ahead.

Wait.

Two weeks?

He stared at the captain as the crowd gave a roar in response.

“Um,” he said, drowned out by the people around him. He switched to subvocation, trying to issue a command to the game. Skip cutscene?

Nothing happened.

“Fuck.”

People around him looked his way, and Dylan ducked his head. He’d forgotten himself and spoke out loud. Just act like you’ve got an open mic, dumbass.

It wasn’t like he had anything to actually do for two weeks. He could obviously spend the time finally giving the system and mechanics of the game a proper investigation, but he didn’t have anything else to do. Was there a cooking skill he could level up now? Or was the trainer for that far behind the boat, and getting farther with every passing moment?

The captain dismissed the crowd with a gesture and a barked order to the crew, and Dylan’s quest flashed to indicate progression. The objective changed.

Sea Voyage to the New World

Travel on the Persimmon 0/14

That had to be days. Fourteen days. Perhaps the world clock was faster than real life, just like in other MMOs? There was no way to tell. The crowd listening to the announcement dispersed, and scattered quickly to the remainder of the ship. He was left uncertain of what he was expected to do. Was he supposed to be helping with something? Was he supposed to just sit and wait? Do nothing for fourteen days? He wasn’t even sure who to ask about it, either, since he could barely tell who was another player and who were the NPCs. Asking someone for help was an easy way to get pranked. He didn’t want to become the laughingstock of the whole expedition by stupidly going door to door asking after Mankrik’s wife or whatever the equivalent was for this game.

He returned to his spot at the back of the boat, and fixed the continent behind them with a glare. The city was nothing but a speck now, and the surrounding lands were just distant blotches of color. By the end of the day, even the mountains would vanish over the horizon, leaving him surrounded by blue nothingness for fourteen fucking days.

It would be five years before this came up again, but he vowed to never complain about a loading screen for the rest of his life.