Adam Drake - Blackout

The elf woman nodded and looked a little nervous. She said, “I’m Amara Frostwalker, by the way. But you’d already know that now from the system message.”

I let out a nervous laugh. “I’m Vivian Valesh, pleased to meet you. And I really mean that.” I laughed a little more and as we shook hands, I got a better look at her.

Like me, she was a Shadow class character, only her race was elven. She wore a nearly identical outfit as me; hooded cloak, leather leggings and vest. But unlike my solid black garb, hers was a muted gray, with different tones.

Across her back was a quiver which was full of arrows. On her thigh was a sheathed short sword. She stood a head shorter than me with a narrow frame which was typical elven bone structure.

Her eyes were a bright emerald green, with hair a snowy white which was pulled back under her hood.

“No worries,” Amara said. “It’s not every day I get to rescue a legend.”

“Legend? Me?” I said, taken aback.

Amara’s expression changed to one of disbelief. “Yeah! You’re Vivian Valesh, the Shadow who defeated the Demon King and got the Legendary Cloak of Shadows.”

“Oh, right,” I said. “That.” Uh-oh, I thought. Did I have a groupie on my hands?

Amara beamed. “And you killed the Ogden Trite! The richest and most powerful player in the entire game.”

“I’d argue against him being the richest and most powerful. But I’m sure he thinks that. And still does.” I am not a Player Killer by heart, but Ogden Trite had put me in a position where I had to take action. Lucky for me, it worked out in my favor.

Amara nodded with enthusiasm. “Your exploits are all over the net. Engraved forever in the wikis, too.”

Not sure what was expected of me I decided to make her an offer. “Let me pay you back for the Ruby of Resurrection. It’s the least I can do.”

Amara shook her head. “No, not at all. I didn’t buy it. It was a random drop on a Daily Quest awhile back. Just never had the need to use it until now. I’m a solo player, mostly.”

“Cool,” I said. Well, that would save me a huge pile of gold I couldn’t really afford.

Amara suddenly said, “I’ve gotta run, so I’ll leave you to your quest.” She turned to walk out of the clearing and into the forest.

Before she left I asked, “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

Amara paused at the tree line. “Sure.”

“Why’d you do it? Why’d you save me?”

The elven woman raised an eyebrow in thought. Then said, “Because you never know when helping someone else might pay off in the future.” And with that, she vanished into the trees.

Huh, I thought. Okay, sounds reasonable. Kinda. But a little strange. What she had done was big, yet she wanting nothing in return.

I shrugged and turned to look at a large stone door set within a nearby outcrop of rocks. The door’s surface was covered with a magical barrier which rippled like a rainbow as sunlight played across it.

My elation of being brought back to life morphed into an equally thrilling feeling: accomplishment.

This was the end of my long quest chain, the final stop. Had the stupid Cyclops not nuked me, I could claim to have finished it all on my own. But who was I to argue with luck? I stepped around the corpse of the Cyclops and stood before the sealed door.

With an outstretched arm, I placed a hand against the barrier. Having completed all the steps necessary to get here, I was now allowed to pass. The barrier dissolved at my touch. Gears thunked and turned from within. The stone door then slowly opened, sliding to one side and disappearing into the rock itself. A dark passage presented itself.

Finally, I thought. If nearly being sent to the newbie zone was the cost of getting here, then so be it. Totally worth it.

I crossed the threshold, then stopped. Something wasn’t right.

I spun around to look back outside at the clearing. Grass and trees swayed with a breeze.

For long moments, I waited and watched. Nothing changed. Eventually, the corpse of cyclops faded away, the game’s way of cleaning house. Bodies of opponents and monsters did not rot as they might in the real world. Of that I was grateful. I’d be responsible for a lot of dead bodies cluttering the ground across the gaming universe. Thousands of them. Tens of thousands, even.

I shook my head. There was nothing. I was just on edge after having my head crushed.

I followed the passage deeper.

It opened up to a large cavern, and I paused, stunned.

The entire floor was covered in skeletons, more than could be counted. Some were clad in armor while others clasped swords. They formed a macabre carpet of death. And each one held out an arm and pointed with a skeletal hand to the center of the cavern.

There, upon a rocky rise, stood a banner flag which billowed from an undetectable breeze. A shaft of sunlight fell from a hole in the ceiling to envelope the banner, causing it to emanate with a magical glow.

The Lost War Banner of Y’Godda.

“Sweet,” I said, impressed with the ambiance. Talk about a cool room to hold the final quest item. Gotta love it when the developers go the extra mile to make the game feel even more special than it already was.

A row of skulls formed a pathway through the skeletons from where I stood to the banner. With a quick look around I cautiously walked across it, wary of a trap.

I crossed and soon stood before the banner. Nothing happened. No traps, no worries. Time to cross off another quest from my quest log.

I sheathed my sword, grabbed the banner’s wooden pole with both hands and pulled.

Nothing happened.

Frowning, I pulled again. The banner didn’t budge. Not an inch.

What the heck?

I looked down to see someone else was also grabbing onto the banner’s wooden pole with two hands.

I gasped in surprise. It was Amara

She’d dropped out of Shadow form and grabbed the banner the same moment I did.

“What the heck?” I blurted. Why was she here, and what did she want with the banner?

Amara’s face contorted with anger. “This is mine, FILTERED. Let go of it!” My language filter kept me from hearing the colorful and nasty words some people threw at me.

Amara tried to pull the banner away, but it held fast, stuck in the rocks.

“This is not yours,” I said, confused. I tried to pull the banner away from her, but it still didn’t budge.

For a few moments we both feebly tugged at the banner but it did not yield to either of us.

Frustrated with this nonsense I decided to unsheathe my sword, but was struck with a thought.

What would happen to the banner when I let it go? Technically, it was the final item to obtain in my quest chain, but could it still be claimed by Amara? She’d grabbed it the exact moment I did, and as a result the game hadn’t assigned the item to either one of us, yet.

“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” I said, anger flaring in my chest. “This is my quest item. I earned it.”

Amara, still holding steadfast to the banner, tried to kick at me with her closest leg. I blocked it with a knee.

“Open world quest, FILTERED,” she said, almost spitting out the words. “Why should I spend weeks trying to finish a stupid quest chain when I could just wait for an idiot like you to finish it for me?”

She kicked again, and I blocked it.

Unfortunately, she was right. This quest was open to anyone, and so its quest items were available to any other player. They didn’t need to follow the entire quest to get the reward, they just needed the items.

This was an item based quest. I needed the Lost Banner to take to the final quest giver to get the reward. But Amara hadn’t bothered to do the quest herself, she wanted to steal the final item and claim the quest reward for herself, without doing any of the work.