MMORPG: How a Computer Game Becomes Deadly Serious (13 page)

He sat there for nearly half an hour. All that time, nothing happened. Pharad went into the auction house once and collected some things from the mailbox afterward. Otherwise, he just stood there. According to his friends window Drimm was still in Ogrimmar, but he was nowhere to be seen. Robert didn’t dare leave his post, afraid that he’d lose Pharad. Besides, the city was so big, there was no guarantee that he would actually find Drimm. He could be anywhere.

Drimm did show up in the end. Robert didn’t notice him until he walked up to Pharad. He had no idea where he came from. The two moved slightly away from the crowd and stood motionless for a few more minutes. Then a mage joined them, and started to cast a spell, creating a portal. Robert moved his cursor and saw that it was to Dalaran. Drimm and Pharad stepped through and disappeared. In his window their location changed as well.

Undecided Robert hung around for a little longer, annoyed that Rebecca wasn’t there to help him. He was so close, he didn’t want to lose them. He supposed he could follow them to the capital city of the continent of Northrend by bribing a mage. He also knew that a level twenty-four hunter walking around in Dalaran would stick out like a Honda Civic on the grid of a Formula One race. In the end he decided to clear up those last few quests in the Barrens, that had been too hard before. Now that he was some levels higher, he should be able to complete them easily.

He flew to Ratchet and went to work on the large ridge situated to the north of the small town. After bagging the required kills, he rode back into town, straight into Drimm.

At first he didn’t realize what was happening. Only when he noticed Pharad standing nearby did his brain process the information. His first reaction was one of shock. Had they somehow followed him here? Now he even experienced a moment of fear. How had they found out about him?

There was nothing to worry about. The Grimstones completely ignored the low level hunter hovering nearby. They mounted their horses and rode down to the pier. He deduced that they had just arrived at the flight path. Although it was a major coincidence, he was going to grab the opportunity with both hands.

Excited he followed them to the harbour, keeping some distance between them. Robert had seen a ship depart from there once, but had no idea where it went. It seemed that he was going to find out now. Soon, a large wooden ship sailed into the bay. It moored at the end of the pier. Several players disembarked. They were Alliance, and for a moment Robert feared they were going to kill him just for the fun of it. When they left him in peace, he realized that this was because of the proximity of Drimm and Pharad. Those Alliance cowards were probably afraid for possible retaliation of the obviously superior pair of Hordes. With clammy hands he smiled at the irony of being protected by Drimm and Pharad.

He saw them disappear into the cabin. A little hesitant, he also boarded the ship. He looked at the doorway where he’d seen them enter, but saw nobody. To remain as inconspicuous as possible, he climbed the stairs to what appeared to be another deck. Now he saw that he could climb to an even higher deck, which he did. There he sat behind one of the massive mast poles, making himself completely invisible from anybody else on the ship.

The ship started to move slowly, accelerating when it gained open water. Nervously he watched the coast fall away. He wasn’t afraid, he told himself, was he? The worst that could happen to him was being killed in the virtual world. He sent Rebecca another text message for help.

The ship docked at a pier like the one at Ratchet. His screen told him he was at a place called Booty Bay. Drimm and Pharad appeared out of the cabin and left the ship. Gunslinger also stepped onto the pier. Before him was a town built on wooden poles, right against a steep rock wall.

The two of The Hammer of Grimstone didn’t go into the town as he expected. Instead, they jumped right off the pier and into the water. Robert was taken completely by surprise. The last thing he expected them to do was to jump into the water. He wasn’t sure what to do now. When they started to swim away and threatened to disappear, he jumped into the water as well. Wondering where this was going to lead him, he started to follow.

The swim took at least a few minutes. After that time, sandy beaches had replaced the forbidding steep rocky cliffs. He saw the two men climb out of the water at some deserted beach and start to walk along it. He was aware that he was only level twenty-four and that there were many creatures around that could easily kill him. After some thinking, he decided to follow them while remaining more or less safely in the water. Unfortunately, he couldn’t swim as fast as they could walk, which meant he was losing ground to them. In the end, he took the gamble of stepping onto the beach as well. Soon after, he spotted them standing at the waterline in the distance looking at some ships that lay anchored in the shallow water just off the coast.

Suddenly, he was attacked from behind. Turning around, he saw a Human mob called a Bloodsail buccaneer swinging a curved scimitar at him. Already, he had lost nearly half his health. He popped a health potion, wondering where the hell Wolfie was. Only then did he realize that his pet had disappeared, which happened now and then. He blew the summoning whistle, and there his wolf was, immediately tearing into the pirate.

The enemy transferred his attention to the animal, giving Gunslinger some respite. He started to run away, all the while keeping an eye on the health bar of his pet. It was definitely losing the fight. Fast. As soon as the poor animal had died, the Bloodsail buccaneer started to chase Gunslinger again.

Unexpectedly, he heard gunshots. At the same moment, the pirate who had been pursuing him tumbled into the sand. Robert quit running.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Drimm said.

Robert scanned around and saw the level eighty hunter standing no more than ten feet away. He did some quick thinking. Should he answer? He decided to act as normal as possible. “I know. Thank you for saving me,” he replied.

“This is no place for a level twenty-four. Better get out of here and return when you’re stronger.”

“I didn’t know what was here. I saw some people swimming and wanted to see what was around the cape.”

“Be careful then,” Drimm said, and he turned away. Pharad had been watching this exchange silently from a few feet away. Now they both walked into the surf and started to swim away from the beach. Robert waited long enough to confirm that they were going to the ships.

Half an hour later, Rebecca finally called back. She was at Schiphol airport, about to board a plane to Edinburgh. Her grandmother had died yesterday, and she was going home a day early. And yes, she had seen the news.

Robert quickly brought her up to speed on everything that he’d seen and done. “I think they’re planning something,” he concluded.

“You’re probably right,” she agreed. “And considering the short time between the last two attacks, we’d better get onto it as soon as possible.”

“I need your help,” Robert pleaded. “Gunslinger is not strong enough to do anything there.”

“I know. Listen, the funeral is on Wednesday. Tomorrow I’m at my parents’, but in the evening I’ll have all the time. Tuesday we have all day.”

He felt relieved that he wasn’t going to have to do this all by himself anymore. He felt sorry for her for losing her grandmother, but he also felt sorry for himself for not seeing her the next day. He had looked forward to spending another day with her and had planned a little farewell surprise himself. He pushed these selfish thoughts away.

“When will we meet?” he asked, consoling himself with the thought that he had at least the digital Rebecca to rendez-vous with.

“Tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Booty Bay,” she replied. “We’ll set up a webcam and a VOIP connection first. I’ll email you the information. Be there!”

~~~

CHAPTER XII

Robert
waited for her at the jetty at Booty Bay, a proud level twenty-seven hunter. The extra day had given him the opportunity to grab another three levels. He was getting the hang of the game.

Rebecca had been right again.
They were scouting locations. I bet we’ll see them go back there very soon
she had emailed him. Indeed, a whole bunch of the Hammer of Grimstone had converged on this zone today.

Because Rebecca’s rogue was an Alliance character, they couldn’t talk to each other using the regular chat channel. Setting up a VOIP connection had been quite easy, so now they were talking with headsets.

Booty Bay looked exactly like a pirate town out of a cartoon. Rival ships of a faction called the Bloodsail buccaneers were anchored just around the cape, waiting to invade Booty Bay if the opportunity presented itself. They had also set up camps and minor settlements on beachfronts in the immediate vicinity of the town to disrupt trade or simply to harass the occasional traveler.

Finally, the boat arrived carrying several passengers. An impressive looking Night Elf lithely jumped off and appeared to be Rebecca’s rogue. Compared to the Horde mage he was used to, the Alliance rogue looked quite different. She was tall and athletic, walking with a smooth gracefulness that was completely lacking in the mage’s Undead skeleton. She was dressed in dark clothing. By her sides hung two swords, each glowing with a bright white light. She exuded danger.

“Hi, are you ready?” Robert heard over the earphones.

“Yes, how’s your character called?”

“Magekiller. Let’s try the webcam first.” Robert laughed quietly at the pun. It was typical for Rebecca to call her Horde mage ‘Killermage’ and her Alliance rogue ’Magekiller’.

Still smiling he replied: “Okay, one moment. I’ve already set up Andy’s laptop, and it should be ready!”

Robert opened the video chat website they were going to use to communicate and to share each other’s view on the digital world. He let World of Warcraft run in the background. After a few seconds he got a notification that Rebecca had logged on, immediately followed by a shaky video feed. Then the focus steadied, and Robert saw the smiling face of Rebecca. She was just as attractive as he remembered.

“Just wanted to say hello!” she said into the camera before turning it around again. After some minor adjustments, she got it exactly right. It was focused directly on her computer screen, giving Robert a view as if he was seeing the action on Rebecca’s computer almost as if it was happening on his own screen. Satisfied, Robert switched back to World of Warcraft.

“Shall we go?” he asked.

“Yes, but check if they’re still here first.”

Robert opened the window, and saw eight members of The Hammer of Grimstone still listed in Stranglethorn Vale, the zone Booty Bay was in. “They are,” he confirmed.

“Right, you go first. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been in this remote corner. Show me the way!”

Robert walked to the edge of the pier and jumped into the water. He started to swim southward toward the cliffs of Cape Stranglethorn. He rounded the cape close to the cliffs that loomed high over them. After a few minutes he struck out in easterly direction, letting the shoreline fall away from him. After crossing the open sea for a short while, a sand bank loomed up before him. Soon, the water became shallow, and he walked up to the sand bank. He stopped when the water reached only to his knees. He heard splashing sounds behind him. When he turned, he saw Magekiller coming out of the water as well.

“I’ll clear the way for you,” Rebecca assured him over the headphones.

The sand bank was populated by quite a lot of the so-called Bloodsail buccaneers. Some pirates were patrolling the coastline, others were just hanging around a few shabby tents that seemed to be erected from discarded sails and driftwood. They were all around level forty, which meant that it would be an impossible challenge for Robert, at level twenty-seven, to fight his way past one of them, let alone a number of enemies.

He heard the characteristic ‘whooz’ which he’d learned to recognize as someone entering stealth mode. At the same moment, he saw Magekiller disappear from sight. A few seconds later, she reappeared some distance away, right in the midst of a cluster of four buccaneers. A knife glittered, weapons clashed, and a few heartbeats later the four pirates were down. Without hesitation, Magekiller stormed the next two targets, transforming them to corpses just as swiftly and efficiently.

Robert started to follow her, carefully using her path, staying out of ‘aggro range’ of the surviving buccaneers. He safely reached the other side of the bank, where Magekiller stood waiting for him.

“I think the Grimstones are at the farthest ship,” Rebecca said.

Robert looked at the silhouettes of the three pirate ships that could be seen in the distance. The one Rebecca meant was barely visible from where they were standing.

“Maybe we should check the others out as well, just to be sure.”

In answer, Rebecca started to swim toward the nearest ship. It was anchored at a tiny island, that sported a fairly large palm tree. As they came closer, Robert could see that another pirate ship was anchored at the same island as well, just on the other side. Both ships had their gangways down close to each other. Several Bloodsail buccaneers were patrolling the island.

“You hide behind the palm tree, near that rowing boat,” Rebecca instructed him. Obediently, Robert steered Gunslinger toward the south side of the island, moving behind the tree and out of sight of the ships. When Robert had finished positioning Gunslinger, he switched his view over to Rebecca’s screen. She was on the ship already.

“We’ll have it checked out in a minute.” With these words, Magekiller became invisible and walked right past two level forty-two Bloodsail deckhands standing on the deck. She entered the superstructure through an open door and descended some stairs. Swiftly she walked through the ship, obviously knowing her way around. There was nobody to be seen, apart from the crew of Bloodsail personnel. In a separate room she came on Captain Keelhaul. Rebecca moved behind him and suddenly stabbed him in the back. He went down immediately.