~o~O~o~
Note: This one took some time to revise. There is a lot of dialogue in this chapter and I had to change the entire conversation between Brenda and Brian due to me learning that GEO doesn't have a built in long distance private chat/IM system. Since it's 'only' a Fan Fiction, I could have just left that alone, but I like to at least try and follow the Canon stories.
Insert standard disclaimer here. The one that reminds everyone that this is a work of fiction. No one is real and any resemblance to someone who is real is just the reader's imagination. This is also a Fan Fiction set in the Whately Story Universe. No Canon characters were permanently harmed in the making of this story. I hope. :)
** Chapter 10 **
“I seriously need a break right now!” I mutter as I feel the intensity of the game fading.
Okay, the computer stuff is kind of weird, but at the same time, I’ve never felt more connected to Whisper. It’s almost like I am really her. Hmmm…I don’t think that I really wanna think about that right now. It’s one thing to play a girl character, but I don’t think that I would really want to be a girl.
Okay, time for a bio break! Then, I think that I will run down stairs and see if I can snag another slice or two of pizza! All that playing made me hungry for some reason.
There is only one slice left. I eat it. Yummy!
I decide to head back to my room. Hmmm…I wonder if Brenda is playing right now? There is no way that I’m just going to call her. Should I try texting her?
I still can’t believe that she gave me her number and that she really wants me to call her. -Okay, now where did I put my phone and her number?- Oh yeah, backpack and wallet. Grabbing both, I pull out her number, open up my texting screen and start to punch in the numbers while I sit down in front of my computer so that I can watch the screen. I only manage to get one or two numbers entered, when the rest of her number suddenly appears and the phone automatically dials the number.
“Wait! No!” I didn’t want to call her.
“Brenda speaking!” I hear her voice say as I scramble to hold my phone up to my ear.
“Umm, hey there Brenda. It’s Whisper, I mean, Brian. How’s it going?” I am so lame.
“Brian!” She yells in my ear as I cringe. “You sound a little surprised there. Didn’t expect me to answer?”
“No No No, not at all. I was just surprised when my phone dialed your number.”
“Your phone?” She sounds suspicious.
“Yeah, I was just going to send you a text, but the phone just called you on its own”
“Are you sure you didn’t just program my number as a speed dial?” She asks, still dubious of my explanation.
“No! I swear. I wouldn’t do that” I try to defend myself. I wouldn’t want her to think I was a creep or something.
“Awww…that hurts Brian. Are you trying to say that you don’t really like me?”
Ouch…now I know she’s messing with me. Time for some payback.
“I’m sorry ma’am. I think that your pretty and all that, but it just wouldn’t work out between the two of us.” I regretfully reply.
“Oh…and dare I ask why?” She asks with a bemused note of caution in her voice. This could go bad, real bad.
“Yes ma’am. You see, when you’re retired, I’ll just be graduating college and I couldn’t put you through that much pain.” I say with as much fake sincerity that I can manage and not laugh.
She laughs. “Touché! I guess we should drop this before I have to hurt you. So, tell me everything!”
“I will, but first. What is going on with Lord Vincint?”
“OMG! You have got to let me tell Lord Vincint what is really going on!”
“Why?”
“He is totally spazzing out here. He has the capital locked down and no one is able to get out to go adventuring. All of the leaders are convinced that you could actually steal the Font, but that’s impossible, right?”
“Well, I can sorta see why they might be worried.”
“What? No way. Everyone knows that it would be totally impossible!”
“Well, it’s not totally impossible.”
“You’re not yanking my chain here are you? Are you really trying to steal the Font right now?”
“No, I am not yanking your chain and no, I am not trying to steal the Font.” My ego tries to rear its ugly head, but I put it down. There is no way that I’m going to tell her that I had snuck into the Font once before without being detected.
“Can ya give me another hour or two? I’m close to being done.”
“Hmmm. So, you made it in?”
Phew. I think I dodged that bullet. “Yep! It was pretty intense though.”
“I bet! How did you do it?
“Well, when I logged in, Whisper was hidden away near the kitchen. So, I disguised her as a maid and snuck into the party that Seramis is having.”
“What? How did you do that? Did you have to steal a maid costume too?” She asks.
“Nah, I just cast an illusionary disguise on myself.”
“What? An illusion? I thought Whisper is a thief.” She says sounding a little confused.
“Well, she is, but last year I thought about how useful it would be if Whisper could cast her own disguise illusions instead of having to rely on expensive or rare magic items. So, I went to the Illusionist trainer and asked if I could learn how to be an Illusionist.”
“You mean that Whisper is both a Thief and an Illusionist? The game isn’t supposed to let you do that!”
“I dunno. I just asked and they let me. It did end up taking almost three months of just learning how to be an illusionist and cast spells before I could really do anything, but it has definitely helped.”
“I can see that. I wonder if I can train Kalisa to be a fire mage too? A tank/mage would be pretty powerful!” She says, thoughtfully. I can almost hear the gears turning in her head over the phone.
“Umm, probably, but then you wouldn’t make a very good tank since she wouldn’t be able to wear any armor due to how metal armor messes up spell casting.”
“Oh yeah. Doesn’t Whisper wear leather armor and doesn’t even leather armor limit spell casting?”
“Nope, she wears a Shadow Spider silk outfit instead.”
“Wow, that stuff is expensive and while it might be perfect for hiding, it doesn’t look like it would offer much protection.”
“Yeah, I know, but Whisper doesn’t get hit that much and if she does, then it’s time to run!”
“I guess you’re right there. I just couldn’t imaging getting into a fight without my armor.” Brenda says, sounding a little deflated by the thought.
I use my mouse to look around Seramis’s room again. Just to make sure that nothing has changed while I was digging for my phone.
“So, what have you told Lord Vincint so far?” I ask.
“Oh my god…it’s been so hard. He and Lord Calrent, okay, mostly Lord Calrent has got everyone all worked up about you right now. He’s asked if anyone knows you in RL. He’s even offered a 10,000 Gold reward for anyone who brings you in!”
“No way! 10K gold! And you haven’t told him anything?” I ask incredulously.
“Hey, where do I work?”
“The labs?”
“Exactly! I know how to keep a secret, but it has been hard.”
“Well, thanks. I really don’t know what to think about this quest.”
“How so?”
“Well, on one hand, it’s been pretty darn cool infiltrating Seramis’s stronghold. Weird, but cool.”
“Weird? What do you mean?”
“Well…I think that I am playing Whisper too much, because I swear that when I was running her through the main kitchen in Seramis’s stronghold that I could smell the food that was being cooked in there.”
“No way! That’s impossible. You had to have been imagining it!” She says, attempting to reassure me.
“That’s not all though. I was refilling Seramis’s water glass when I…”
She interrupts me. “Wait! Did I just hear you say that you refilled her water glass?!?!”
“Well, umm, yes.”
“So, you were standing right next to her and she never noticed?! Wow, that’s just crazy!” She says, sounding impressed.
“That’s not really the crazy part though. So, as Whisper was standing beside her, I wondered what would happen if I tried to kill her right there. I got some message on my screen that said something like “Primary Mission Success…90 something percent” and “ROV Capture percent…80 something percent or another. Well, I think so anyway.” I say without much confidence, because now that I look back on it, I’m not really sure.
“Did you download some GEO Add-on or something? “
“Nope! No Add-ons for me. No one has been able to get those kind of cheats to work. GEO is just too good at detecting hacks.”
“Hmmm….okay, then what happened?”
“I was so shocked, that I almost made Whisper drop the water pitcher she was holding.”
“Almost?”
“Yeah..almost. Whisper caught it somehow and the extra weird part is that when she caught it, I could feel the pitcher in my hands for a second or two.”
“Maybe you are playing too much there Brian.”
“Yeah, probably. As soon as this quest is over, I think that I am going to take a long break from GEO. Maybe even retire. The game is just getting too weird for me.”
“Awww…are you sure? I was starting to looking forward to having some baby bottles of milk to give Whisper the next time we grouped up!” She laughs.
“Ha ha ha…not. Are you sure that you’re really thirty something?”
“Eeewww, you really are planning on dying young, aren’t you?”
“Well, you know what the old folks say? Only the good die young!” I sing, hoping to defuse the situation. There is a fine line between stupid and clever.
“Nice try there kid. So, where is Whisper now?” She asks.
“Umm…I have her sort of hiding out in Seramis’s room waiting for her to get done with her party.”
“How did you get in there? Isn’t her room guarded?”
“Yep, two guards outside her door and the windows are heavily warded.”
“Okay..so then, how did you get in then?”
“Ho Ho Ho” I say.
“No way! You came down the chimney!?!?” She says with total disbelief.
“Yep!” I say, feeling pretty darn proud of myself.
“That was pretty sneaky of you.”
The admiration in her voice makes me feel pretty good. “I do get lucky every now and then you know?”
“So, are you really going to go through with it?” She asks with her voice returning to a serious tone.
“I don’t know.” I sigh. “It’s just that the more that I think about it, the less sure that I am. I just haven’t had much time to think about it. I’ve been so focused on getting here, that I haven’t had the time to think about anything else.”
“Maybe that is why you haven’t been given a lot of time to complete the mission? I did some thinking about it after you left and something just isn’t right about your quest” She says.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, didn’t the quest say something about this being a ‘test’ for you?”
“Yes, but it also said that Whisper would get five levels and a new identity if I kill Seramis. Are you saying that the reward isn’t real?” I ask with disbelief. I’ve never heard of GEO faking a quest or a reward.
“I dunno…it’s just that something about this has my spidey sense tingling.” Brenda says. “I mean, how do you know that GEO generated the quest and why didn’t GEO just give you the quest directly instead of going through the guild leaders?”
“Well, the quest scrolls look and act like real quest scrolls. I didn’t notice anything weird about that. Well, other than the quest itself!” I say, feeling a little suspicious now myself.
“Okay…so then why involve the guild leaders? No one even had to know that you have a quest. That’s the part that really gets me.”
“Hmmm, I dunno. Maybe GEO knew that I had to steal a griffon and Lord Vincint’s griffon was where it needed to be?”
“If that is true, then why wasn’t that one of your quest objectives?” She asks.
“Oh crap, what if I was supposed to tell the leaders about the quest? Maybe, I am supposed to fail?”
“I wonder…” She begins to say, but then stops herself.
“What?”
“It’s kind of vague and I’m not sure if GEO would do something that indirect.”
“Huh?”
“Okay, here is my idea. Everyone is wondering why Seramis has been able to not choose a side, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, what if we were supposed to warn Lady Seramis about the plot to kill her and in doing so, that would bring her over to our side?”
“That sounds like pretty thin reasoning to me.” I say, dubiously.
“What if the evil side got the same quest and our warning could’ve saved her? Maybe that could push her to our side as a result?”
“Well, that’s a bit stronger, but it’s still pretty random. There’s no direct path there. It all depends on how Lady Seramis would react or not react. How could GEO predict something like that?”
Before she can reply, I notice one of the window wards begin to fade away. “What the?!?”
“What?! What’s the matter?” Brenda asks.
I focus my attention on the window. A shadowy shape floats through the now disarmed window. “Shhh…Someone just dispelled the window wards and floated in through the open window.”
I watch the unknown player or monster begin to case the room. The person stops in front of the fire place and I can hear him chuckle while looking at the painting. It sounds like a him anyway and the next part just confuses me when I hear him whisper, “Ahh, Fey, it’s going to be so much fun killing your character. Not as much fun as it would be killing you, but still rewarding. I can’t wait to see your sad little face tomorrow morning in Crystal Hall.”
I hear the guards outside the door clank to attention and the figure casually turns to face the door which lets me get my first good look at his face.
I’m shocked. “Oh shit!”
“What!? Brian! What’s happening?” Brenda asks, anxiously.
“It’s Shadow Killer. Except, he spells it all leet with numbers and stuff.” I whisper to Brenda. Dunno why I’m whispering to Brenda. He can’t hear me. I don’t have the game mic turned on. Shadow Killer is a well known evil player assassin and PK’er. To make matters worse, he’s a red con to me. Meaning, he’s at least five levels higher then Whisper and it would take a miracle of all miracles for me to even slow him down before he killed Whisper. He disappears from my screen.
“I gotta go Brenda…” I say, not really paying attention to her as I grab the phone with my left hand so that my right hand can work the mouse. I fumble a bit with closing the phone to hang it up before I absently set it down on my desk.
I’m starting to feel a little dizzy, but then the feeling disappears as the room that Whisper is hiding in comes to an extra sharp focus.
Cool!
>ROV POV Immersion…100%
…
< GEO Core Warning: Player.Object.Whisper Abnormal Immersion Level Increase detected. Player Entity Beta Nervous System Link Enabled >
<GEO System Console: Player Entity Safety System Recommends [D]isconnect of GEO.Player.Object.Whisper or [I]gnore?>
<GEO System Console: Ignore Confirmed.>
<GEO System Console: Continuing World Balance Alteration Scenario>
…
Comments
Whoa!
This is a serious cliff hanger on so many levels, I feel as if I'm teetering on the edge! LOL!
Grover
Detected!
Aaand, the system detects his immersion level of 100%, just as I feared. But decides to let it ride.
And my guess about Sh4d0w K1773r is a certain thug named Nex... I can so see his being a PKer.
And Sleethr is doing major rewrites. Must resist temptation to read pre-revised versions. Must enjoy new, improved version without reading old version.
Yours,
JohnBobMead
Yours,
John Robert Mead
To whom the whin tolls
I'm just thinking about how the player running Sh4d0w K1773r will be whining the next morning when it is his character that is dead.
Stunning
Brenda sounds quite a bit younger than thirty something, but overall a good chapter with a great situation developing at the end. From the warnings, I guess we don't have to imagine what would happen to a player if his/her character dies at 100% immersion.
Teeth itching in anticipation.
Aghhh you're evil
So not fair, gonna have no hair left before the next update.
/me Stamps feet in frustration
Good stuff
Lizzie :)
Bailey's Angel
The Godmother :p
Whisper..
Very nice segment Sleethr!! This is one serious cliff hanger you left us with! lol I'll be on pins and needles till I see the next installment!!
whoa!!!!!!!
It looks like he could really die in real life if he's not careful.
Notes on GEO
The story is great and its always fun to see people using GEO as part of their stories. Now, I know its fan fic and you can kinda handle it however you want because of that... but I have a couple notes on GEO mechanics for you:
GEO doesn't use classes at all, just archetypes. The difference being that archetypes define the starting focus of the character and only loosely direct progression... where classes don't really give you 'history' but they determine pretty much everything about how the character grows over time. A GEO archetype provides core skill trees (an Enchanter, for example, will begin with Lore branches in Magic, Mystic Forces, and Arcane Languages; they'll have Crafting Branches in Magical Devices, Alchemy, Runecrafting, and Scribe; they'll have Research branches and Combat branches in Magic, Mystic Forces, etc. Most of the same branches and specific skills available for selection to an Enchanter might also be available to a Mage (specializing in direct focused magic usually in elemental or force based energies), a Battlemage (a focus on indirect, long channeled magic extremely powerful but easily interrupted / prevented by disrupting concentration), an Artificer (someone who operates in combat as a magic-user but casts no spells... all power is sourced in objects of some sort), an Alchemist (similar to an Enchanter except focusing on consumable substances for temporary effect), and so on. And two characters starting in different archetypes could eventually synch up to matching abilities (though it would be a challenge to pull it off).
The other part of what makes archetypes different from classes is that classes define what new abilities come to the character based on levels within that class. The archetype system only defines how the character gains the most 'experience' ... An Enchanter, for example, primarily gains from Crafting/Gathering efforts. Secondary from Research/Exploration, then from Combat, and finally from RP. A Soldier would gain primarily from Combat, then Research/Exploration, RP, Crafting. And so on. This means that an Enchanter or Alchemist (both of whom use Crafting as a primary) would get more out of spending time gathering materials than would a Mage (who gain primarily from Research/Exploration, secondary from Combat). But that doesn't mean the Mage cannot learn to do all the same crafting that an Enchanter could... it would just take more effort. Just as an Enchanter can learn to exchange spells in combat with a Mage on an equal level, it just takes more effort to get there.
Where this applies to the story is that Whisper learning Illusionist magic is far less unique than Brenda thinks. Most games limit things that way though, so its not really a huge mistake for a player to make... as long as you're aware of it. The means of going about it is fairly close to what you've mentioned though. You have to learn the core Lore and Research skills from training, somewhere. Then like any other skill/ability in the game, you train to raise potentials and you use the skill in actual situations for it to gain 'actual' skill until you reach your potential and have to train more.
Other 'lesser' issues:
The Fonts are something of a combination of massive pillar of mystic energy that comes out of the earth and rushes up into the sky... and a well/gateway/creature representing the embodiment of one of the two dynamic forces in the game (Good and Evil). So... stealing it? Not really an option. Unauthorized access? Using the energy of the Font for personal actions (those who control the Font gain the ability to fuel transformations among their allies into 'avatars' ... when controlled by Evil, it is a transformation into a monster... when controlled by the Good, it's usually more subtle... redefining archetypes, mainly). But its also possible to fuel 'global' spells that affect a guild or even the entire side... so ensuring that the other side doesn't gain control is a big deal. Once captured though, its not movable (by the players, anyway).
And finally, metal / armor doesn't inherently hinder use of magic. Wearing plate armor might cause some manual dexterity problems that would reduce the accuracy of physical casting... but not all types of magic require physical hand/arm/body movements. It's also completely possible to have cloth armor that (through magic) has all the combat properties of metal armors. Mostly, they're more costly... its easier to enchant something with magical defenses by enhancing the existing properties than to impart properties that the object didn't have at all. But its entirely possible to do the chain mail bikini in GEO and for it to be just as effective in combat.
To be honest
Many materials, in most fantasy settings, also have a certain affinity for mystical effects. For example, silver is inherently anti-undead (common lore), lead blocks scrying and detection spells (Order of the Stick), and iron is detrimental to magic (Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey's Halfblood Chronicles). And that's not counting moonsilver and sun metal. So it's not just manual dexterity that matters, as it can be bypassed. But it is also about the material armor is made of.
Unless, of course, it is not so in the GEO. :)
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
GEO
im not a devout fanatic of Whately, but i have read quite a few stories on it... this is the first story i've read that has the game in it.
to be honest i think i like thier game world better (but im a total fantasy nut like that) what other stories has GEO as a core part of the base story line?
P.S. You said that metal doesn't hinder magic... there is a reason why in almost every fantasy game that it does.. and that's because it would be too over powered if mages could wear armor and still cast..
imagine a stone skin spell... on top of full chain armor O.o yeah that's like a better tank than a paladin.
But it's not just limited to that.. there are plenty of spells that temporarily boost defence... imagine a low level mage with an AC of -3! and while your *trying* to hit him, he's blasting you with fireballs! oh! and since he's not restricted to a single class.. he's healing every nick and scratch that you DO cause him.
Never mind that his hobby is Alchemy and he has a pack full of potions to aid in the fight
GEO appearances
Insanity Prerequisite Part 1
Revelations
Ultimate Disguise
Like a Brick
GEO Vignettes
As Above, So Below (April Fools Story)
And GEO is mentioned in passing in a number of Ayla stories, Ayla doesn't play but a number of his friends do.
Yours,
JohnBobMead
Yours,
John Robert Mead
Thanks!
Awesome =] thanks for the list .. Off to go read now, humm Revelations looks good
What?
Duh! Fan Fiction! Get it? As for the Whateley GEO stories the link is
http://www.crystalhall.org/GEOVignettes.html
I admit I haven't buried my nose in the wiki and am familiar with all the details of GEO. I love Whisper's story and while a few details may differ with official cannon it is after all, one more time, Fan Fiction.
I thought about going over some of my old SCA days about the real weight of armor and just how hard it is move in the stuff, but I decided not to. I could even say you could spend your days in the gym beefing up to wear all that armor instead of hitting the books to become a good mage, but why bother. As an old RPG pen and paper gamer, I have a natural aversion to rules lawyers. 'nuff said.
hugs
Grover
It's hard not to be a 'rules
It's hard not to be a 'rules lawyer' about GEO ... since its my creation. Both in the Whateley Universe version and the real life variation that I've been playing around with for... over a decade now. And I'm more than fine with fan fics doing whatever they want... but he said he likes to stick close to canon. So I thought I'd offer the details that varied from canon.
:)
Chaosdancer
a.k.a. Kristin Darken
PS some specific responses
-----
Faraway> also about the material armor is made of.
Yes though in most RP games and fantasy settings, it doesn't matter what the material is.. even though the 'in story' explanation is that its a material issue. Usually in games its purely a mechanics balance issue with material or encumbrance issues as the 'cover up' story. There ARE materials in GEO that inhibit magic and they can be crafted into armor... and in those cases, it is purely a materials based limitation. Common materials like bronze, iron, steel, or leather... do not have any particular mystic signature in that world. However, you can research ways to craft armor with almost any leather, scales, ore, chitin, etc that you can manage to gather. Each of those will have its own material profile that will affect how the resulting armor will protect the wearer from any type of damage.
Grover> SCA days about the real weight of armor and just how hard it is move in the stuff
In GEO, the use of armor by itself takes a certain amount of skill... and that impacts any physical action you take. The weight (determined by material and coverage), the fit (an aspect of the crafting), the quality (also part of the crafting) and the current state of repair all influence that modifier. And as you mention, there are some physical demands in wearing armor that building up musculature and flexibility counters... and any time used for it is time that you're not using studying/researching new spells, so there's a bit of a balancing act required for combining disparate areas of study. However, its an open ended (no levels, no experience/skill cap) system... so it might take you twice as long (or more) to master the skills needed to be both a warrior and a mage... but you can do it. The real difficulty can be in finding someone to teach you the core skills... most NPC trainers will not take on an apprentice who cannot be their student full time (and mostly, those are only teaching 'new' players). This means you need to find some way to convince a trainer... or find a player willing to take on the effort of teaching you (yes, players can train others in most skill branches as long as they have sufficiently mastered them).
Sadarsa> Off to go read now, humm Revelations looks good
My entire Fling storyline includes the GEO 'subplot' ... note that the GEO Vignettes are each short stories placed into the overall arc of that GEO plotline. Dr. Bender's vignette occurs after having read Revelations and IP1 (doesn't matter which you read first) but before going on to read Ultimate Disguise. My vignette is 'mostly' an expansion on how the game works but characters from it will appear in the GEO subplot down the line (not in anything currently released). Maggie's vignette plugs into the story at roughly the beginning of Like a Brick. You can read it either before or after.
The April Prank story "As Above, So Below" is not canon, you can read it at any point without causing any disruption to your understanding of the GEO subplot.
Enjoy! :)
Whisper - Chapter 10
Wondering if Whisper will emerge and take over his body?
May Your Light Forever Shine