(World of Valdira 01) The Way of the Clan (5 page)

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Wow! Super! – squeaked a thin girlish voice behind me.

Turning back I saw a girl who had just flopped down on the ground and was fascinated by letting road dust flow through her fingers.

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Looks like real! It’s awesome!

‘Her first time in the game’ – I just stated the obvious and drew my attention to myself. Hrmph…

Torn in plenty of places canvas shirt and pants of the same type. No boots, the bare heels were muddy black. And a lean knapsack hanging over my shoulder complemented the look of a poor beggar. I didn’t look inside my knapsack because I was sure there were only two things there – a tiny piece of stale bread and a cracked clay bowl to scoop some water from a well or an aryk. Certainly you can drink without it, but the game designers believe that it’s so unaesthetic to make a human stand on all fours like an animal over a ditch. Ethics, sir…

I had no sign of weapon – but for my own fists and legs if we could consider them weapon. All general attributes were minimal. I could make sure of it easily by bringing an appropriate table in front of my eyes:

Character’s Basic Attributes

Strength – 1

Intelligence – 1

Agility – 1

Stamina – 1

Wisdom – 1

Very nice…

Exhaling one more grieving sigh I stepped aside and squatted down leaning my back against a stone wall. Then pressed ‘Exit” by a steady hand and stumbled out of Valdira into the real world.

It’s time to report to my new employer about a successful implementation of all set objectives and to find out what to do next.

I was about to dial his number when the phone rang just before I managed to touch it.

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Hello?

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Ros, it’s Gosha speaking.

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Oh! I’ve just wanted to call you…

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Have you reset your account yet? Have you deleted your PC?

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Yep, as we’ve agreed.

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Damn! You could have run around as him…

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What?! I shouldn’t have done it, should I? Gosh!

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No, everything is according to the plan, although there is one trouble emerged – she can’t appear in the Cradle now.

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Eh? She?

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Yes, a female-gamer. A girl. So she will come in a couple of days. Maybe later. That’s just the way it is, bro.

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Two or three days? Gosha, are you all right? But I’ve deleted my Crashshot and registered a new PC! What should I do then?

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What do you mean? What’s the question? – asked Gosha again in amazement. – I’m sure you’ll find what to do with no trouble. I’ve got money. Call in your friends, throw a party for two days, pull a bird. You’ll survive two days without the game.

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Yeah, it’s clear… - said I slowly and regretfully. – But then, damn it, I was going to immerse. Ok… I’ll be waiting for news from you. My new nickname in Valdira is Rosgard. He’s somewhere at the entrance in the Cradle.

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What’s the account class?

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Diamond. As we have agreed. And, Gosha, I’ll be in the game. I gonna run around the Cradle what the heck. If you need me urgently, just PM me.

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For two days? – roared the swole. – You’ll go mad there. I say you what – pull a bird and have a blast. If you don’t know where, I can help. Wanna?

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No, thank you – I refused – I’d better get lost in Valdira for a while. So I’m waiting for your news.

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Boy oh boy, you just amaze me, Ros, - chuckled Gosha uncertainly. – All right. Then the most important – don’t even think about joining any parties of other gamers, don’t spoil your relationship with the saloonkeeper and don’t leave the Cradle, it goes without saying. It’s very important! Got it?

Don’t leave the Cradle – that’s ABC. But as for the ban on joining parties of other gamers and spoiling with the saloonkeeper I didn’t catch. But I didn’t ask any questions about it.

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I remember. Not to join, not to spoil, not to leave – replied I after a small hack. – Look, as for this tournament… what shall I do there? What line of the character should I develop? It’s impossible either to learn or to buy any spells in the Cradle, the same bullshit with classes and combat skills.

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It’s easy. As you said – like Neanderthals with sticks. Model an average Joe with an inclination to a physio. The very tournament is not difficult… I’d rather say special. You’ll cope with it without any combat skills. The main point here is not to screw BEFORE the tournament, above all too much depends on particular conditions that you have to meet almost in a special order. So have you decided to idle around the Cradle for two days indeed? Hrm… well… then good luck, Ros… gard.

At that point we finished the incomprehensible talk but I kept sitting on the bed staring at the wall and squeezing a silent receiver in my sweaty hand. Two days! In the Cradle! What shall I do there? Ok, I’ll work out. Besides, I’ll have time to get to know why it’s prohibited to quarrel with the saloonkeeper. Curiosity is an evergreen striving!

Entrance.

The world of Valdira welcomes you!

A brand new character met me at exactly the same place where I had left him – he was sitting just a stone’s throw from the Springhead (exit) staring at the space in front of him blindly. Nothing had changed around him as well. The former girl that had been so enthusiastic about the vividness of the virtual world had disappeared somewhere long ago. But instead of her three male individuals came into view looking around businesslike. Too businesslike! They didn’t look like beginners at all – those guys were definitely experienced they knew way around.

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Hey, guy! – greeted me one of them cheerfully. – Come on! Join us! I know this game from A to Z! You’ll get home free with us! An absolute drive with minimal breaks!

I was about to open my mouth and to tell the well-wisher to get lost when he continued his speech giving a glowing description of my promising future:

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First you’ll swing a stick as everybody. But when we save some money, you’ll become a healer or a buffer! I mean a physician, you see. Got it? Join our party! Let’s go! We gonna roll from the Cradle, there is nothing to feast on!

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It’s time to go… - grumbled I gloomly while standing up and dusting down my torn panty.

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What?

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Get lost, I said – growled I – I won’t join your party, I won’t become a healer. Got it?

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Oh, boy, calm down! Join us, Rosgard! – the hanger-on wasn’t going to get off my back, he had already managed to read my nickname. But I shrugged him off carelessly, turned my back on and walked away.

They may look for other patsies. I hate such creeps who are waiting for new-comers at the gate to baffle them! They persuade them to join their party, bring through several quests at a gallop, force unnecessary class or craft on this poor soul and increase their levels very quickly at his expense. They are increasing their levels until the very moment the crazy guy realizes that it’s not his line to be a healer or a buffer that he has always dreamt about becoming a warrior or at least a shaman…

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Oh my God! Goodness gracious! – a compassionate female wail diverted me from my thoughts, I raised my head and faced a corpulent red-cheeked housewife looking at me over a board fence. – What clothes are on you, good man!

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Good afternoon, madam – I smiled subconsciously keeping in mind Gosha’s strange warning not to quarrel with the saloonkeeper. This lady is certainly not a saloonkeeper but still she is a NPC. She can be his wife or a lover…

I knew what should have come next and the uptown lady didn’t let me down:

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Oh my, look at your pants! They look a mess! And so does the torn shirt… where have you been wandering, poor wretch?.. Let me see… you’re bound for the city square, aren’t you? Oh my, you’re going there looking like this, aren’t you? Watch out! Our guards don’t welcome shag-rags! You’ll get into prison faster than flesh in the pan… for warning purposes!

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So it goes, auntie! – a big smile as sweet as honey spread over my face. – All that is mine with me all the time! I have this shirt and these pants only. Misfortune happens.

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It’s not misfortune at all! – the lady flung her arms up – You can mend your clothes, can’t you? It’s not a hard work to lend you a needle, I suppose!

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Thank you so much, auntie! But I don’t know what to do with a needle. Can you help a poor wanderer? I’ll pay for your work and for your kindness!

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I cannot but help you! It won’t take me long, I’m sure, - replied the uptown lady quickly opening the gate for me. – Take off your shirt. I’ll mend it in a moment. Come in, you’re not going to get naked outside, aren’t you?

The first non-obligatory quest has started and it has been progressing. An approving message in a sky-blue frame flared in front of my eyes:

A character’s look plays a big part in the world of Valdira!

‘Guess, I know it’ – I chuckled in my mind and went into the yard. None of important NPCs will give you a quest if you look like a beggar. They won’t even talk to you. Only here in the Cradle you can get some toleration on such things. ‘Locals’ are well-matched – kind and friendly here.

The square yard looked more than cozy – swept clean, some flowering garden-beds sided by stones and a couple of vegetable patches a bit aside. There was a nice wooden table covered by a top scraped down to shine white and a couple of low benches in the middle of the yard. There was a wooden curb of the well grown into the ground in the corner and a bucket with a rope tied on its tug nearby.

The total cared-for look was spoiled a bit by six withered trees aligning along the inner side of the fence. Rather thick trunks with the diameter of an adult’s thigh, dried branches and boughs protruding in different sides decorated by deserted birds’ nests. The bark had blackened and then nasty shreds were hanging from it. So here is my quest…

Without waiting for reminder I slipped my knapsack off on the bench, pulled my shirt that started bulging at the seams over my head and took off my pants. I was standing almost naked, only my reins were covered by a clean white piece of textile that actually looked like a diaper. It’s one more aesthetic concession – your underwear never gets dirty. Even if you fall down in a muddy pool and roll there like a swine this analogue of underpants will stay in full radiance of snowy white cleanness contrasting with your body splashed with mud dramatically. It’s checked for sure – one day I had to cross a small bog while fulfilling a quest on searching peculiar plants. Having come back I realized that my gear was totally draggled, stinking bog goo was flowing down my body, but the diaper, ironically, amazed by its blinding whiteness of fresh snow.

To crown it all, the diaper could boast two more super abilities: it was impossible to eliminate it and only I could take off that patch of wiper covering my conservation area. The latter rule was brought in following several incidents when stronger gamers undressed other gamers naked and forced them to parade along streets like that. Serious punitive sanctions were slapped to those inventors, the victims got consolation bonuses as for diapers and female tank tops, only their owners could take them off. Anyway there had never been any rapists in the game. If your cocoon fixes a fact of an attempted rape of another gamer or NPC, it will kick you off the game immediately. Forever. Besides, your character will be deleted. But if it’s by mutual agreement – no problems. Enjoy it and orgasmize.

Oh, by the way! I nearly forgot to mention it! You’ll never have a chance to lose your diaper – all you need is to command and a snow-white piece of textile will materialize on your hips by itself. Such a wonderful super thing that every gamer possesses.

Besides, where has the friendly hostess disappeared? Here am I standing almost naked and castaway in the middle of the yard…

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Oh, well done, honey! I’ll mend all your stuff in jig time and tidy it as well, - jabbered the hostess having left home, she was holding a needle and a white thread passed through it in front of her. – It looks like you’ve offered to help me around the house… It would be very nice! You know, I’m single, how can I do it alone without a man in the house!