MMORPG: How a Computer Game Becomes Deadly Serious (18 page)

“Honestly, I don’t know,” he said. “We could try to find them, I guess.’

He started to move Gunslinger again, exiting Valormok on the other side and veering back into the direction of the road. They had gone no more than maybe a hundred yards when they were attacked for the first time. A Spitelash warrior, which looked like some mermaid out of a bad nightmare, attacked Gunslinger from behind. The hunter was knocked out of the saddle.

Robert cursed and frantically pressed keys to turn around to face the monster. It was level fifty-three and already having a bad time with Casper. The white animal was tearing into the Spitelash warrior with a vengeance. Robert started shooting with his gun, and after only two shots it lay dead on the ground.

“Let’s try to avoid these guys,” Andy said, while Robert remounted and continued their search. “Such sudden attacks are bad for my heart!”

They reached the road without any further incidents. They were closer to the temples now, and Robert noticed many more Spitelash warriors and also Spitelash sirens, which he suspected of having magical abilities. A message told him that he’d just discovered the Ruins of Elderath. He continued cautiously, wary of drawing any aggression. He realized fully that he could easily die here and have a hard time escaping this trap afterward. When there was a mob too close to the road that they couldn’t avoid, Gunslinger would dismount and engage it from a safe distance. In this way they managed to clear a path into a city of ruined temples.

“It looks like the ruins of ancient Athens,” Andy remarked. “These temples and pillars are definitely of Greek origin.”

Robert nodded. They had reached a square with a defunct fountain in the middle. On the other side lay a magnificent temple that had somehow escaped the decay and demolition of all the other buildings. One more step forward revealed the name of this place: Temple of Zin-Malor.

“Are we going in?”

“We came this far, so I suppose we should.”

There were three Spitelash sirens between them and the main temple, and Robert sent Casper to attack the first. After that one was killed, they took care of the rest. Cautiously they approached the doorway of the temple. Step by step Gunslinger sidled to the entrance until they were just able to cast a look inside.

“Damn!” Andy exclaimed. “Where the hell are they?”

“Again, I don’t know,” Robert said. Once more, he clicked the map open and asked Andy to study it. “Do you see how large this zone is? We’ve seen only a small part of it. They could be anywhere!”

He was about to suggest they give up the search when a message appeared at the bottom of the screen:
Frazier has come online
.

Robert stared at the message for a few seconds, then opened his Friends window for confirmation.

“We may be in luck,” he said slowly. “This is another of the Grimstones. As far as we’ve been able to determine there are ten of them, total. So now they’re all online. Maybe he’s late for the appointment, and this could be our chance to locate them. He’s already in Ogrimmar, so we must hurry!”

He summoned his Kodo and thundered out of the square, completely unmindful of the Spitelash monsters rushing to intercept him. Several hit him, and he lost quite some health, however none was able to unhorse Gunslinger. When they were clear of the Ruins of Elderath, the pursuit ceased, and they continued their way unhindered.

They arrived at Valormok two heartbeats before Frazier was brought there by his flying taxi. Frazier was a Blood Elf mage, dressed in magnificent clothing. Robert clicked on him and selected the option ‘Inspect’. He nodded. “He’s wearing all purple gear. He can kill me in a few seconds.”

Andy threw an uncomprehending glance at him. “Shouldn’t we hide?”

“No. Why should we? We’re just another player who happens to be here. He won’t think anything of our presence.”

Frazier started to cast a spell. A moment later he was mounted on a colorful bird that resembled an oversized ostrich. He left in a gallop.

“One, two, three, four, five,” Robert counted. He didn’t dare to give more of a lead. They started to follow in northeastern direction.

“Hunters have an ability that allows them to track others,” he explained to Andy. “I’ve set it to track humanoids, because that’s what a Blood Elf is.” He pointed at the mini map where Frazier was shown as a green dot. “If I concentrate on the terrain and avoiding enemies, will you keep an eye on the dot and make sure we don’t lose him?”

Andy nodded his approval and sat forward, his eyes glued to the screen.

Frazier didn’t go to the road. Instead, he kept to the north, following a route that ran parallel to the road. They followed him from a safe distance, now and then swerving to give a wide berth to dangerous spiders and flying monsters called Hippogryphs.

Shortly, they came upon a camp filled with Timbermaw warriors, who were patrolling the perimeter of the camp. Robert cursed himself for being lazy and abandoning the quests that would have given him a good reputation with this faction, because they let Frazier pass unhindered, but rushed to attack Gunslinger when he approached. He turned sharply to the left, trying to avoid as many of the Timbermaws as possible.

Riding around the campsite cost them precious time. Frazier was now at the extreme edge of the mini map. Any other distraction or detour would mean they lost him.

“Concentrate on the map,” Robert admonished, quite unnecessary. “I’ll try to follow a straight line from now on. It’s a gamble. If some mob knocks us out of the saddle, we’re done!”

They thundered on through the deserted lands of Aszhara. They saw no other players, just yellowed grass, sparse trees, and an occasional monster. They were lucky no mob pursued them for long. They even gained back some ground on Frazier when they came upon a place called the Legashi Encampment. The powerful mage went too close to the camp, resulting in several guards bolting after him.

Robert saw his chance and aimed his Kodo straight ahead, right behind the backs of the Legashi warriors who had left their posts to run after Frazier.

They passed a place called The Bitter Reaches, and the land started to slope gently downward. There was a change of colors ahead, which Robert deduced must be the beach. Indeed, not much later a message told him they had arrived at the Shattered Strand. Still, Frazier kept moving.

“Is he riding into the sea?” Andy wondered.

“Could be.” Robert stretched his back, removing some of the knots in his muscles. “According to the map there’s quite a lot of beach here.” He opened the map again and pointed. “You see? There are two land tongues that encircle the Sea of Storms, creating a huge bay. We’re at the northern tip, which is the largest.”

Suddenly the grass under the Kodo’s hooves gave way to sand. For a second Robert was distracted, but when he looked up again, he halted immediately.

“We found them!” he cried. He stomped Andy in the chest. “Hey, weren’t you responsible for watching the mini map? Look!”

The mini map showed a cluster of humanoids at the extreme edge of the land tongue. They were standing in front of a gloomy deserted tower built at the place where the land ended. Maybe it served as a lighthouse once.

‘Discovered: Tower of Eldara’ his screen announced.

Gunslinger edged forward and to the left, trying to keep as much distance as possible while gaining a better and unobstructed view.

“There,” Andy said. He pointed at some huge boulders between them and the tower. “If we’re behind those, they won’t notice us.”

“You could be right.” Robert studied the situation for a moment. Suddenly the prospect of getting so close was frightening. “Let’s do it. Otherwise we went through all this trouble for nothing.”

He approached the hiding place from the opposite side, which meant he tracked all the way to the north before turning toward the beach again. Twice he had to change direction to avoid huge monstrous crablike animals. It took several minutes to reach the dubious safety of the rocks. Once there, he shuffled sideways to get a view of the Grimstones.

“My God, what the hell are they doing?”

Robert didn’t answer at first. He looked again and checked once more to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “They’re
dancing
,” he finally concluded.

“Dancing?”

“Yes, don’t ask me why.”

They watched the weird spectacle in silence. After several minutes, it suddenly ended in a spectacular way. All the members of The Hammer of Grimstone jumped into the air, which was followed by loud cheers. The sound carried all the way to their hiding place.

Suddenly Pharad yelled, “Enough! Thank you!”

The dancing, jumping, and cheering subsided. Robert and Andy exchanged a glance. Robert raised his eyebrows, which made Andy giggle nervously.

“What do you think they’re doing?” the latter asked, just to break the tension.

“What do you think? Isn’t it obvious? They’re celebrating. And I fear we both know what they might be celebrating. Four dead men on a boat!”

Andy nodded. “I believe you’re right.”

They concentrated again on what was happening on the beach.

Below them, the Grimstones had lined up at the foot of the tower. Pharad was standing in front of them, like a general inspecting his troops. With Andy and Robert as silent spectators, he slowly moved from one to the other, taking a few moments with each of them.

Suddenly, it dawned on Robert. “He’s giving them something!”

“What do you mean, giving them something?”

Breathless, Robert explained to Andy: “Players can exchange anything. Items, gold, you name it. This is done through a trade window. Somehow, I think we’re witnessing such transactions.”

Drimm didn’t bother to read the orders immediately. That would come later. He was close to their leader, and he knew how Pharad feared that someday WoW would come under the scrutiny of the international intelligence community.

Pharad wasn’t a man who took risks. He didn’t mind using the regular secure channels like Party or Guild chat for the issuing of operational orders during training, because such messages were nearly undistinguishable from ordinary Party chat during a raid.

Orders that really meant something were kept as secure as possible. When real places, dates, time, or names were communicated, this was done by physical though digital letter.

He opened his bag to ascertain that he had the orders with him. Again, he resisted the impulse to read them now. He would know soon enough. Waving farewell to the others, he started to activate his hearthstone.

Right before he was whisked away to his home in Dalaran, his eyes froze a moment on the screen. He hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings, knowing they were absolutely secure at the most remote place thinkable in the entire game. Only now, just before he vanished, he looked up and took in the whole screen.

It didn’t even last a second, but Drimm’s experienced eye was immediately drawn to the dot on his mini map, slightly to the northeast of their group. Drimm was a hunter, and he, too, had the ability to track all kinds of adversaries. It was a
friendly
dot drawing his attention. There were no friendly mobs around here, therefore it must have been a player. A Horde player. He would have sworn to it.

Just before his view on the Shattered Strand disappeared, he looked at the place where the dot should be, according to the mini map. All he saw were some huge boulders that prohibited him from seeing anything. Had someone been hiding there? Observing them? Or was he mistaken? Should he warn Pharad?

He decided to let it rest for today. It was probably nothing, just some player stupid enough to think there was some fun in Aszhara. Four long days he’d been away from his temporary home, and he had slept little. He was dead tired. He yawned and promised himself he would tell Pharad anyway. Tomorrow.

~~~

Chapter XVI

There
seemed to be no end to the pipe. It was filled with water. At some places clouds of tiny little air bubbles floated through the water, obscuring the view even more. From the point where they dived underwater, it had been a long swim all the way down to the opening of the center tube of Coilfang Reservoir. It seemed as if he would never get out of the pipe.

Gunslinger was holding his breath: the remaining oxygen in his lungs was depicted by a bar on the top of his screen. It was running out fast. He let himself be distracted by the oxygen bar and immediately the hunter became stuck. Cursing, he steered down a little to keep following the downward sloping pipe. What if he ran out of oxygen? He tried to swim faster. Finally, there was light coming from above. He swam upward and broke the surface. He involuntarily gasped, as the bar with his remaining breath was replenished again.

He was in a kind of cavern, with moss growing at places on the metal everywhere around them. Killermage was in front of him. She was already out of the water and stood next to a quest giver. Robert waded out of the water as well and collected the quest, which required him to search for some missing members of an expedition inside the instance.

“We’ll look for them in the Underbog first,” Rebecca said. “The Slave Pens come right after.”

Robert made Gunslinger nod. He gave her a wave as well. It netted him a smile in return. On an impulse, he decided to use Gunslinger as an indicator for Rebecca’s feelings for him and typed ‘/hug’ while selecting Killermage as target.

Gunslinger hugs Killermage,
the screen read. He held his breath.

Killermage chuckled. Two heartbeats later, he read,
Killermage blows Gunslinger a kiss
.

Feeling happy, even a little elated, he stepped up to the swirling entrance of the instance.

“Are you coming?” he asked bravely. Without waiting for her, he stepped through and into the Underbog.