QUILL

Quill was not having a good day. Well, sort of. But not really. He was honestly happy for Jane because she’d defeated the bear and levelled up. He was rather down on himself for doing pretty much nothing to help out. Other than give the bear something soft to land on when it had fallen on him. 

He was covered in blood. Drenched. His clothing was soaked. It stunk, it was sticky and gross, and it attracted flies. Worst of all, Jane kept looking at him and giggling. 

The three of them, Jane and Sapphire and himself, rolled the huge bear head through the forest. They wound their way around trees and did their best to avoid the high-level rabbits and spiders moving about. But a bear head is not perfectly round, nor does it always go where you want it to, and they were constantly fighting to stay on course. It was smelly, disgusting work. 

Ah, the other side of being an adventurer. They tell you about the glory and the gold. They don’t tell you about the blood and guts and embarrassment of pushing dead monster parts down the road while the entire village comes out to watch and point. Or about how all the other adventurers stopped and stared in awe or laughed at them. 

A small stream ran next to the village. Quill left the moss bear head and walked right into the water without saying anything to the others. Tired and sore and feeling filthy like never before, he sat down in the water and let it wash over him. A cloud of red drifted downstream. 

Jane stood on the bank, watching him with a smirk on her cute face. “So. That time of the month, huh?” she shouted. 

He just groaned in response. He sank his head beneath the surface and scrubbed blood out of his hair. When he’d gotten what he could out of his clothes and hair and most of his skin was clean, he stood up and splashed Jane. 

She yelped and dodged. “Missed me.”

He mock-glared. “So you want to tease, huh? Heh, I’ll get my revenge on you. Oh yes, I’ll have my revenge. Mark my words…”

Her eyes narrowed. “Hey. Are you trying to steal my lines? Also, you don’t understand the line at all. Psh.” She dismissively waved at him and mock-haughtily looked away.

He snorted at how adorable she was and looked over at Sapphire. 

The young woman in blue stood next to a villager, tapping the middle-aged man on the shoulder. She spoke with a worried voice. “Excuse me. Mr Borony? Mr Borony?”

The villager made no reply. He didn’t acknowledge her presence in any way, just stared at the moss bear head and muttered something to the woman standing next to him, presumably his wife. 

This only seemed to stress Sapphire out again. She whimpered and backed away, shaking her head.

Quill nodded in Sapphire’s direction and spoke to Jane. “Let’s keep going. It’s not good for her here.”

Jane looked over and saw the scene too. “Yeah.” Her voice turned hopeful. “Maybe things will be better in the city?” 

“Maybe.”

It took several hours to go a relatively short distance. Quill and Jane saw very few players out in the field, fighting and levelling the way they had been. A few they did see seemed just as intent on growing. Others seemed reserved and hesitant before getting into battle. But when they saw the giant bear head rolling around, many other players pointed and laughed or called out, the sight raising their spirits.

“Holy shit! What is that?”

“Hey! You know bags of holding exist, right?” 

“You gonna eat that?”

“You’re bearly getting that thing to move but bear with it guys! Almost bear.”

Quill sighed inside, but smiled and waved with good humour to the other players. 

They attracted even more attention as they finally rolled through the gates of Stormstadt as the sun touched the horizon. It was much busier in the city, and a lot of players were still in shock and denial, huddled in corners, slouched against walls, talking to others with bitter expressions, their words of resentment loud enough to overhear. 

When they saw the passing bear head though, it put smiles on a lot of faces. Even more were surprised, even stunned. 

One girl screamed in fright.

Her friend backed away. “You’re kidding. That’s what out there, waiting for us?”

“Well, yeah,” Jane muttered under her breath as she pushed the head. “What kind of game did you think you were signing up for?”

“Hey,” Quill called out, looking around. “Anyone know where the Adventurers Guild is?”

A middle-aged woman in the same quest-reward clothing he wore nodded and helpfully pointed. “Second intersection. Turn left. It’ll be on the right.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks!” He was exhausted and couldn’t wait for this to be over. Like Jane, he’d been battling his Stamina bar the whole way. 

One thing of note was how many players had gained better clothing. Specifically, they had armour. Nice armour. 

Jane turned her head to watch a player in red-and-brown leathers stroll by. Keeping her voice down, she spoke to Quill. “Is it just me, or does it feel like some people are leaving us behind already?”

Seeing others getting ahead made him mildly sick with jealousy. He felt the urge to work harder so he could have nicer things too. But the voice of reason in his head calmed him. “Well, many drops are random. You could kill a wolf and get nothing or a legendary set of armour. It’ll happen to us soon enough.” 

The sun set completely as they arrived at their destination, street lamps and the wall sconces on either side of the Adventurers Guild doors flaming on.

The guild hall was in a very large building made of huge, gray blocks of granite and massive logs as if a mountain had reshaped itself for habitation. From the roof, two waterfalls spilled down the outside of the walls into twin ponds next to the building and under a little bridge to the front double-doors. Humans in full plate metal with tall halberds stood guard in front of the bridge. 

Jane stared up at the three-story structure. “Wow. How did we miss this?”

“It’s a big city. Guess we still have places to explore.” He stood on the street and stared up in awe. Lit from beneath, blue and white flags flew overhead, decorated with sword and dragon. Wide windows stretched the full height of the first and second floors. Adventurer players flowed in and out the front doors. A classy, brass plaque with stencilled letters was bolted to the wall over the doors: Adventurers Guild. 

There was something very exciting about being here in person, something no traditional computer game could replicate. Standing here in front of an actual Adventurers Guild for real felt amazing. It brought back to mind a thousand fantasy stories, tv shows, books, and games. He felt a rush of childhood excitement and wonder and, on the inside, was jumping up and down with glee. But not on the outside. Because he didn’t want to look like a kid or an idiot in front of Jane.

Jane shook her head in awe and slowly grinned. “How cool is this? I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the inside.”

“Me too.” Quill and Sapphire pushed the moss bear head through the doors while Jane held them open. They stopped a few meters inside. Quill took a moment to get his Stamina back.

“Hey.” Jane waved him over to a spot right next to the main double-doors. “Look at this. Fliers for bounties.”

He fought off his tiredness, then strode over. Though his Stamina bar was filling, his body still felt worn. “Is the moss bear up there?”

Jane’s hand roamed over the listings as she read. “Yes. Here it is.” Her eyes widened. “Wow!”

“Ten gold?” His jaw dropped. That was an absurd amount of money at their level. “That can’t be right.”

She beamed at him. “Come on. Let’s turn it in. With this, we can actually sleep in a real bed tonight.”

For a brief moment, he thought she meant sleep in a bed together. Then he realized it was just the wording and shook the image away. 

Quill looked around. The Adventurers Guild of Stormstadt was vast inside, and beautiful. The foyer was two stories of open space with a balcony on the second floor with inn rooms. A ball of yellow light hung over their heads, illuminating the room like a second sun but softer. The floor was worn, dark wood, and lush greenery spilled from tall planters in the corners of the room. Opposite the doors was a long counter underneath a dragon skull that slowly moved back and forth, watching guests. Three receptionists stood behind the desk, smiling and dealing with players. 

On the right side of the foyer was an item shop with a variety of weapons, armour, potions, and other gear. On the left was a wide tavern with an array of circular tables, a bar, and a small crowd engaged in some activity on the tables in front of a large hearth. 

The place was quite busy. There were lines of adventurers at each receptionist, and many tables had people eating dinner at them. Others wandered around the shop, browsing goods. 

As with the players outside, many people in here looked down, dispiritedly picking at food or aimlessly wandering and looking at things like tourists but not interacting. The vast majority had stolen clothing or curtains and the like to cover up with. 

A handful of folks seemed, like Quill and Jane, to already be playing the game, excited at their surroundings in the guild, happily eating, even if it was only bread. Of course, there were those with really nice gear here, too. It was quite the contrast. The well-off ones seemed to be the most boisterous, some with smug faces as they flexed their gear off, others loud and obnoxious as they ate. But one seemed very focused on talking to a receptionist and learning, and another was wolfing down food at a table alone as if trying to eat as fast as possible so they could get back to grinding levels. 

At least some players were pushing hard to win. Quill felt even more pressure to do the same.

Their arrival began causing a sensation. Players from all corners of the guild pointed the giant bear head out to each other. As outside, there were smiles and laughter, and the mood seemed to lighten.

Quill leaned over and softly spoke to Jane. “Look at these people. Some of them have full armour sets and magical weapons and stuff already.” He had an unpleasant suspicion about how most of them had done it so fast.

Jane shrugged. “Maybe they have higher stats and levelled faster. Or spent the night grinding? Or just got really lucky?” She didn’t sound like she believed her own words.

“Maybe.” Quill wasn’t so sure. A few of the people here looked much high-level already. Surely they hadn’t been in the game long enough for that. He gestured forward. “Let’s line up. Turn the bounty in.”

They stood in the shortest line, which was the middle one. Five people were in front of them. They were all watching Quill, Jane, and Sapphire approach.

“Nice haul!”

“What the hell is that thing?”

Quill spoke. “Moss bear. We think it was some kind of group boss.”

“Wow. How’d you kill it?”

He answered humbly. “Accident. Got lucky.”

One guy leaned out of the line and nodded at Sapphire with his head. “What’s with the NPC?”

Jane slipped over to Sapphire’s side and once more protectively entwined her arm with the other woman’s. “This is Sapphire! She helped with the quest. In fact, we couldn’t have done it without her. She’s the best Storm Scout ever, aren’t you, Sapphire?”

The woman in blue blushed and looked down. “Aw, come on. I’m far from the best.”

But Jane nudged her. “You’re the best to me. You saved our lives!”

Her embarrassment deepened. “I…I’m just glad I could be of use.”

Brows rose from those in line. “Wow. She’s not like most NPCs. You can actually interact?”

A woman in the line next to them piped up. “There are a few like that. Key NPCs. They’re a whole ‘nother level. We met a couple in the castle. The vice-captain of the knights and a knight-in-training.”

Others around them, part of the crowd now checking out the bear head and those who’d brought it in, overheard. “The head of the academy was one, too.”

“Cleric in the hospital is probably one.”

“Ha. That guy was the weirdest cleric ever. Total edgelord. But sexy.”

“Have you met popsicle guy? I’m not sure if he’s one cuz he’s such a space case, but he was weird, too.”

Jane gave the guys in front of them her best smile, which seemed to make them all straighten and stand taller. “I was just curious. What’s up with the guys in nice gear already?” None of the ones in line had anything but rags or stolen clothing.

The one to answer smiled with self-importance. “Ah. You haven’t been in the shops yet? Most of those guys bought that gear.”

Quill was puzzled but suspicious. “How? Where’d they get enough money so soon in the game?”

The guy scoffed and addressed his answer more to Jane than Quill. “It’s cuz they spent real-world money. They’re pay-to-win types.”

Quill nodded and gave a sigh of resignation. “Of course.” His suspicion had been correct.

“Seems to be a fair number of them,” Jane commented, scanning the crowd.

“Definitely.” The guy bent forward with a conspiratorial look. “Did you hear?”

Quill and Jane shook their heads.

The guy looked knowingly at them, obviously proud to know something they didn’t. “Rumour has it some really rich guys are in here with us. Saudi prince, some Russian gangster-slash-politician, even a couple of Chinese tech billionaires. And lots of Americans with cash to burn, of course. They bought max level-ups, all the best starter gear. Like money means nothing to them. Probably lots of whales given how many people aren’t wearing stuff like this.” He gestured to his own plain shirt and pants.

Jane looked intrigued. “Level-ups?” She glanced quickly at Quill, then back to the other guy.

Quill understood the look. With his low Intelligence, levelling up was going to be really tough. But could he buy levels? Not that he supported pay-to-win play at all. But the system was actively holding him back and wasn’t fair at all.

The other guy nodded. “Yep. Max level right now is 10 for Region 1. You can buy your way up instantly.”

“How much?” Quill asked. 

“To go to level five so you can choose a class? Two thousand US dollars.”

“Oh my gosh,” Jane breathed. 

The guy waved her off. “That’s not all. The level boost from 5 to 10 is another 10 grand.”

Quill almost choked. “What? That’s insane!”

“I know. What can you do, though?” The guy shrugged. “With our lives on the line, they can charge whatever they want, and someone will pay it. Like I said, there are plenty of people in the game where even ten thousand dollars is chump change, even if this was just a game. It’s not all like that, though. But they’re selling things in the stores for mere hundreds of dollars, if you have it.”

Quill looked away. Fucking wealth inequality. Hundreds of dollars was definitely not chump change for him. So much for getting a leg up that way. He hated pay-to-win stuff, but he’d been considering it, in this circumstance. But at the prices they were charging, how much would it cost to keep buying max level-ups? Surely the level cap would rise as new regions were unlocked. Getting to level 50 or 70 or whatever might cost millions of dollars. 

Some people would have that to spend and would be able to play the entire game at max level the instant it was available. He sure didn’t have that kind of cash. And with his low Intelligence… Did he realistically have any chance, or would the rich people here just buy their way out and leave the rest of them to die? His spirits dropped, though he tried not to show it on the outside. 

Jane frowned. “I can’t believe anyone would pay to jump to level five. I’m level three already. What a waste of two thousand dollars.”

One of the guys laughed. “Some people are lazy. And money means nothing to them when they have that much.” He grew more serious. “And a lot of people think this really is a race. The one who passes the game first is the only one who’s going to get out of here alive. So it’s not just pay-to-win, it’s pay-to-live.”

Her frown deepened. “We don’t know that for sure, though, right? I mean, we don’t know anything other than what those CEOs told us in the beginning. And they could have lied. Not that they said for sure either way.”

The guy nodded and shrugged. “Yeah. But I think most people fear the worst. Don’t you? I mean, those assholes did trap us in here and all.”

That kind of killed the conversation. 

They all resumed waiting in line. A few minutes later, Quill and Jane approached the receptionist, Sapphire at their side. 

The receptionist sat on a wooden stool. Her medium-length hair shone bright orange, and oversized, circular glasses framed her green eyes. Freckles speckled her friendly face. “Hi! Welcome to the Stormstadt Adventurers Guild. How can we help you?” She spoke very clearly and professionally.

Jane put the bounty poster down on the counter. “We’d like to claim this.”

The receptionist, a tag on her chest read Elia, nodded. “Very well. Do you have proof of kill?”

Quill pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “The head’s right there.”

Elia leaned over and looked behind Quill. She smiled. “Very good. Thank you, adventurers! That’s amazing. How’d you do it?”

“We had Saphire! She helped us.” The other woman was quiet and looked lost, so Jane nudged Sapphire with her shoulder. 

The receptionist looked up and waved with a welcoming smile. “Sapphire! Good to see you!” It was the perfect thing to say.

Sapphire turned to her slowly, then a huge grin broke out. “Elia! Thank you. It’s so good to be seen!” She laughed and waved back. Then she turned back to him and Jane. A change seemed to come over her, a lightening of her burdens. “She saw me!”

“Of course she did,” Jane assured her. “You’re alive!”

Sapphire looked filled with happiness and wonder. She looked at Jane, and you could see a real spark of intelligence in her eyes. “Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around Jane.

Now it was Jane’s turn to look embarrassed. But she gave a solid hug back.

Elia looked pleased. “The reward is ten gold. I’ll just count that out for you now.” She reached under the countertop and came out with a handful of gold coins. She made two stacks of five and slid them over. “Here you are.”

Quill pushed one stack over to Jane and kept the other for himself. 

The receptionist smiled at them. “Will there be anything else?”

Jane looked around. “Um, is there, like, a brochure or something that explains how being an adventurer works? Like a guide or something?”

Quill looked at her in surprise. “Good call!”

Elia bowed her head in affirmation. She pulled out a thin book and placed it on the counter before them, turned to face them. “The Official Adventurers Guide. Everything you need to know about gaining skills and levelling up.”

The young woman’s words caught the immediate attention of every player in hearing range. Necks craned as other people looked to see the book. Apparently, no one else had ever thought to ask if the guild had something like this. 

Elia continued. “The book is five silver. But I can answer a few quick questions for you as well.”

Quill slid a gold coin over, trying not to wince as he parted with money so quickly after earning it. “We’ll take it. But maybe you could tell us what we get from levelling up? We both reached level two but didn’t get any skills or attribute points.”

She answered brightly while making giving him his change in silver. “Of course! Levelling up is a simple process. All you need to do is acquire experience points. When you accumulate enough, you’ll automatically rise to the next level. Your current level is multiplied with your attribute scores, so the higher your level, the more health and energy you’ll have. And the more damage you’ll do, of course. You’ll gain access to class-specific skills and spells as you level up. Weapon skills level up as they are used.”

“Standard stuff,” Jane commented. 

Elia continued. “When an adventurer hits certain milestone levels, that’s when big, exciting things start to happen. For example, at level five, you can choose a class and elemental specialization. At level ten, you get a keystone skill. The Guide will show you examples of what you can gain.” She opened the book and flipped to a chart. “Please note that the skills listed here are standard acquisitions. When you level up, there’s a chance of acquiring rare or unique versions of skills as well. You can also find access to special skills while adventuring. These might be added to your current skills, or they could replace them, for better — or worse. Class skills, like weapon skills, level up with use.”

Quill studied the table in the book. “Is there any way to increase our base attributes? Like Strength and Intelligence.”

Elia shook her head, looking sympathetic. “No.”

His heart fell a little, but he was expecting that answer. 

Jane bit her lip as she, too, studied the guidebook. “Is there anything else we should know?”

Elia looked thoughtful and pushed a strand of orange hair behind her ear. “As you are already aware, the Adventurers Guild posts a number of bounties and quests on our boards. Some are ongoing, such as for goblin and gnoll ears, bandit tattoos, and a variety of useful monster parts. The quests are posted over there.” She pointed to the large board just inside the main hall, where they’d gotten the bounty poster earlier. “Also, please visit regularly to be notified of any special or seasonal events happening. Those will be posted here in the lobby in advance of the events.” She seemed to finish with this last bit of information and a smile.

Jane flashed her own smile and picked the book up. “Ok. Thank you so much.”

They moved away, out of the queue and towards the tavern. They saw receptionists pulling out Guide books for other players now as well. The mood in the guild rose a notch as players gained a way to get more information on how to survive.

Quill was pleased. He wanted to win the game and live, but he wanted others to have a chance, too. 

The moss bear head faded out of existence, and those admiring and poking it drifted back to their business.

Jane grinned at Sapphire and interlocked arms with her again. “See? You’re alive. Told you so.”

Saphire hesitated but nodded and looked relieved. “Sorry. I know I was being weird. I just…um, I can’t explain it. Sorry.” She looked frustrated, like she was trying to think of something and couldn’t. Probably running up against the limits of her programming.

Jane waved her concern away. “Don’t worry. We’re just glad you’re feeling better. And thank you for all your help with that moss bear.”

She beamed at them and put her hands on her hips, standing proud. “It was my pleasure! Just another day for a Storm Scout.” She looked like she was back to normal. 

Quill was relieved. Perhaps her AI was adjusting better now that she was interacting in a more familiar way with others. He looked at Jane. “So? What now?”

Jane hefted the gold in her fist. A slow, sly smile spread over her lips. “You know, it’s been a crazy couple of days. And we worked really, really hard today.”

“Yes…”

Jane glanced around and spotted a waitress serving a table in the tavern section. She jogged over. “Excuse me.”

The waitress put down the two mugs of beer she was holding and gave Jane her attention. She wore a maid-like uniform with a blue, knee-length dress and white apron, a frilly white band in her hair. “How can I help you?”

“How much is one beer?”

“2 copper.”

“How much for…a barrel of beer?”

The server momentarily froze as if caught by the question, then continued. “248 beers will be 4 gold, 9 silver, and 6 copper.”

Jane sucked in a breath at the price. But she slowly looked up at Quill, a daring question on her face. 

He did a double-take. “Wait. Are you seri— How much do you think you can drink?”

She waved to the whole room. “I think we could all use a beer or two, right?”

Quill looked around. He noticed that only the obvious pay-to-win types had tables full of food and drinks. People dressed like him and Jane mostly had bread and water. But he looked down at the gold in his hand. “Half of what we made today on beer?”

“We still have this silver, too, remember?” She held up the small purse from selling the meat. “Well…?” She started to dance in place. 

It was foolish. Crazy! That money could help them so much. And yet… He took another look around the room, seeing all the desperate people that, like him, had been trapped inside a living nightmare. He tried to fight back a smile and failed. “I guess a little liquid hope would do people good.”

“Yes!” She turned to the room and shouted. “Hey, everyone!”

Conversations died down, and dozens of heads turned their way. 

Jane grinned. “We just had a great day, and we want you to have a great day, too.” She turned to the server. “One barrel of beer to share, please.”

There was some confusion. But some people looking in their direction half rose from their seats. Others threw each other questioning looks, and murmurs of tones of — hope — rose from all over. 

A very muscular bartender appeared, wearing black pants and a white shirt with buttons that seemed certain to pop off at any moment. He rolled a wooden barrel out from behind the bar and over to an empty table near Jane. 

Hopeful murmurs grew louder. More of the players in the tavern rose, and others from the foyer and shop started wandering over.

The server hustled behind the bartender and placed a cradle next to the table. Then the bartender grunted and lifted the heavy barrel up onto the cradle so it sat sideways. A bronze spout stuck out from the front.

Jane cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. “Who wants a free beer!”

The entire guild resounded with cheers. People rushed toward them.

Jane raised her fist in the air, closed her eyes, and her voice rang out across the guild hall in a sing-song wail. “Let’s get it started in heeeeere!^⁠1”

People cheered even louder.

Jane continued, “Let’s get it started—ha! Let’s get the party started in here!”

A pair of bards appeared in one corner of the tavern and began singing an upbeat song, livening up the place.

Servers appeared, filling the table with empty mugs.

Shouts and whoops of joy resounded. Players pressed in close, eager for a drink.

Quill guarded the barrel, raising his hands up to block everyone. “Line up! No pushing!”

People obeyed.

The bartender began pouring foaming mugs of golden liquid sparkling with bubbles.

A player in a full kit of red leather armour eagerly grabbed a mug from the table and expectantly held it out.

Quill snatched it out of the man’s hand. “Nope. Sorry.” He raised his voice. “Pay-to-win can afford their own. Free-to-play players only!”

This time, the cheers nearly brought the roof down. The man in red armour slunk off with an unkind sneer but was instantly replaced by plenty of happy, poor people without any fancy gear, thrilled to have something good happen to them for the first time since arriving in this world of fantasy. 

It was a good, good night.^⁠