Chapter 2
"Alright chat, I'm back. Let me get the headset on and get into the game." Xercoid waited for his body to connect with his in-game avatar. The 'vanilla' game, without mods, allowed for a lot of the senses like pain and smell in the game, but mods were able to tweak it for added 'realism'. Sure the developers of the game did it the original way, but he liked the added customization modifications allowed. Well he was doing a random realism run, but he didn't install any of the mods where he had to relieve himself, because that was just too 'real' for him. Especially as a female character. Too much of a disconnect for him.
His Dudes, the people he called in his community, the ones who watched him stream, were all welcoming him back. There were a lot of regulars here today, including modders from the community as well, like Gennt. One of the moderators, who control Chat so they don't post inappropriate stuff, by the name of JaceOcean0923, was currently eating his cereal. Which was notable, because the man never ate anything else. Honestly, Xercoid worried for the man and spoke out his real worries, but played it off as a joke to not get too 'real'.
Xercoid was known for streaming this game. Sure he branched out to other things when he could or when he was bored, but this was his game. He loved it to death and would probably be playing it years down the road.
Now with the new mod by Gennt, that randomized NPCs, all those nameless and faceless people in the background, it overhauled them to be better. Not only did their looks change to be less generic and randomly generated based on race and any additional mods installed to increase variety, they gained backgrounds like any voiced scripted, hand crafted, NPCs already in game. The mod also included an AI overhaul, allowing the NPCs to be unique and react to the player.
He had played the game before the stream, just to make sure everything was installed in the game properly and that it worked, but Saranie was the first real NPC from the mod that he actually saw and interacted with. Her confusion, fear and anger about being on trial was so real looking, it was actually a little intense, but he would get used to it. Just like he did when he started playing the vanilla game when it came out six years ago.
So when Saranie fled, attacking the knights in the chamber and fled, he was beyond excited to gain her as a companion throughout the game. Of course there was a quest objective marker shower her current location, which was one not 'realistic' thing he left on because it would be time consuming to have it off.
After her escape he started the Wraith Fallen quest line and dropped into the sewers. He found a bunch of thieves down there like usual, but with Gennt's mod, he was able to actually talk to them this time. Some even haggled with him to look the other way, one just fled, but ultimately it was super fun.
A bounty hunter was searching for the thieves and since Xercoid sided with them, he decided to kill this high level enemy with a swift sneak attack. It was so exciting when an enemy could one shot him, ending his run on this life in game, right away and then killing him and taking his look.
He got a full set of volcanic gear. Black rough exterior with red lines that glowed on the edges. Unfortunately it was a female armor set from the bounty hunter and with his the extended armor mod he has installed there were some semi-not family friendly armor sets included. But it came with a matching shield and mace that would come in handy for his cleric build, even if the armor set didn't really match well with his cleric class and stats. Well he could use it until he gets something better and less chilly.
After taking care of a few more side quests along the way, it had been a lot of time, four hours in game and in real time, so he went looking for his companion. Well he wanted Saranie as a companion, but if he couldn't achieve that, then so be it. All the fun was in the freshness of random and new.
He was now level three, still super low level all things considered. Actually since he wasn't planning on doing the main quest line, for the five hundredth time, he got a mod that allowed all the abilities for the Star-born to be available for purchase with skill points with level ups, without taking part in the main quest line.
So when he got to the tavern, following his quest marker, he met up with her and talked. But at the end, he was confused. Maybe the mod wasn't working or something else was up, but the dialogue options were just out of place.
Well he did have one mod that would let him disregard the dialogue options and the AI would fill in what he says and run an algorithm that would have the NPCs respond to him, but it wasn't fully fleshed out and Gennt had yet to release the full version. It was something he was working on. Xercoid was trying it out.
Anyway, back to the dialogue with Saranie at the end before his VR headset let him know that his bladder was about to explode. Saranie was saying that she didn't know about the attack on the embassy, and assassination attempt on the Astern General. While not him personally, his character had been at that party - random start mod for you - told Saranie that she had seen her at the party. So maybe it was a mystery and perhaps Saranie was framed for this attack, but then she just went completely off the rails. Suggesting his character wasn't even the ambassador, which she was. It was strange, like he thought, but Saranie was just about to attack him, at least he thought, but he had to go so he ended it there.
Now, with the game paused where he saved it last before he took off his headset, Saranie was missing. Chat was the first to point this out to him as he was more focused on reading what his Dudes were up to while he was gone.
Obviously there was a bug, so maybe Saranie got deleted or maybe she just teleported. He wouldn't find out in the menu, but he made sure to point it out to Gennt.
"Might be a bug man. I'll follow the quest marker, hope she didn't fall through the world otherwise she is gone forever."
[GenntMods: Not sure that is on the mod end. It might just be the game glitching out. It shouldn't affect game saves like that, because NPCs are managed by the game and my mod just generates them.]
"Makes sense man. Alright guys let's go look for our companion." He spoke out to his Dudes as he unpaused the game.
Actually the game was known for bugs, where the game would glitch out like that, but mods made by the community could fix that. Actually he had mods like that installed in the game to reduce it, but nothing is perfect after all. Also he was modding the game, so it lowers the stability.
Reading his chat, people were looking forward to Saranie. She seemed really real to them and himself that he couldn't help but get excited even more as he followed his quest marker towards her.
Actually his quest for her, was to simply help her. Gennt had said there should be more information and that he would check out why it was giving so little, but it was his plan to help her regardless. She was new in an age old game and he was going to see it through.
---
The world was moving again. Saranie didn't get too much time to read through the books. There was a lot here that talked about the world and a map, but it was local. It did extend a little out of the Caldera, but there was nothing familiar. Landscape, landmarks, villages or even bodies of water. So most of her time was spent reading. Her armor allowed her free access thankfully and she was happy to have it.
Sure she did feel bad for the knight she killed. Afterall she wasn't in a war and the cultists were her true enemy. That knight just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Anyway back to the books. The history being told in the books was not matching up with what she had learned. So she was to conclude this might be a whole different continent compared to what she was originally on. Which didn't sit well with her, but there was little she could do at this time about it.
Learning about this nation's history gave her an idea of what she was dealing with. Thankfully it was closer to the Vellheart Kingdom's laws, her home, so that helped her.
Out of the corner of her eye, out the window, she spotted Xercoid, who found her again. At first she didn't think about it, but with her mind shielded now and the threat, still unknown, moving close to her, she needed to remove any magical markings on her. This time with a knife, one she stole from a frozen knight she passed by, cut her hand and used her improved lifeforce. She casted a spell to cleanse any markings. There was no way to know if it worked, so she would just have to hide.
While she did want to cast an invisibility spell, she had no idea how to do it. It was one of the things her teacher was going to teach her, but then they found out about the cultists and time ran out for her. Even though she was unable to really test her lifeforce, which wasn't a crazy idea to say, because of how fast it replenished within her and stronger it was, she could fight her way out as it was pretty much full other than the spell she just cast.
Xercoid entered into the shop in that strange armor. But instead of walking straight towards her, she just stopped and looked around. Since the place was quiet, Saranie could overhear her.
"Chat, the marker is gone." He said out loud, in the open, and few people looked her way. Well it did confirm there was a marker on her, but why would Xercoid say that out loud. There were other moments where he did things in the open and no one noticed, like Chat, on his arm. If those were people, how were they connected to Xercoid?
With that, she slowly made her way over to a window and opened it to leave. Her armor clanked on the edge and Xercoid noticed right away and started coming her way. She quickly ran out into the street to blend in. Unfortunately there was now a downside to the armor she was wearing, so she ducked in an alley way. Killing Xercoid in the open was a terrible idea and would alert all the knights, so she found a dark secluded spot to ambush her. Whatever unknowns this woman presented, Saranie had enough and had to kill her. Even if Xercoid said she would help, that was when her mind was being influenced by something. That something, became an assumption that it was the elven woman chasing her and there was no way she was going to risk her life on someone like that.
As soon as Xercoid got within range and out of sight of the street she jumped down for her position on the wall and attacked the elven woman.
---
Xercoid was smacked down on the ground. Thankfully he toned down the pain simulation a smidge, just enough where it was challenging, but not debilitating. Saranie had ambushed him. It was cool that it happened.
Even with the quest marker gone, the quest connected to her was still active. Clearly bugging out, but he didn't care. Things were getting really interesting. He quickly grabbed his shield to block the spear Saranie was wielding. His health dropped to seventy percent on that first hit, but he was fine for now. As a cleric he had access to healing spells and he did have a few cool abilities unlocked as a Star-born already.
Well after blocking the next attack, he grabbed his mace and swung it at Saranie who easily dodged it. She was clearly higher level than him, like most NPCs, but he did have a chance. She wasn't using any high level spear abilities, so that was a good sign. Plus after playing this game for six years he could actually fight in melee combat with a lot of weapons intuitively, even in real life. Another thing he loved about this game and game series.
She fired mana bolts at him. Which she clearly had a lot of skill with. Considering her escape from before, he would put her closer to the mage category. Better with spells, but terrible with physical weapons.
As he dodged and blocked her attacks, he noticed her smile through her helmet. Another great part of the AI overhaul, but not so good for him. She threw the spear at him, a low level spear ability, but he didn't expect her to have it. But as he blocked it with his shield, his eyes widened as she ran towards him with a knife in hand. Those mana bolts never let, but he saw her cut her hand, letting blood out, before she created a large fireball his way. It stopped the mana bolts, but now he had little room to avoid the huge fireball coming his way. So he took it head on, but prepared as it would be a distraction.
Also thanked his volcanic armor as it had fire resistance on it.
He quickly healed using his cleric abilities bringing his half health bar up to eighty percent with the green rings rising from his feet to head. Each represented a ten percent increase in health. Then just as he looked behind him, where he expected an attack, Saranie just landed, probably jumped over him which is cool, and stabbed him. He swung his mace at her and they traded blows. He definitely hit her arm, although with much less force than he would have wanted. There was now a deep wound near his right elbow on his mace holding hand.
He spun around to face her and she started firing more mana bolts at him.
---
"Can't you stop this? I said I would help you." Xercoid spoke to her.
Saranie had no intention to reply. Just like someone can figure things out by hearing you talk or gesture with your body, in a battle like this, it could give so much away. So she kept quiet. Saranie noticed the exasperation in the elven woman's voice, which wasn't great, but she could work with it.
Saranie recognized her attack failed. This elven woman was much stronger than she had imagined. Well clearly had spent time using a shield. The mace looked a little out of place in Xercoid's equipment, but otherwise she was efficient with her attacks.
Then there was her magic, those three rings. Strange and new. Something she hadn't seen before, but as the burns healed on her body, which did less damage than she hoped, that spell was for healing.
So she kept up the pressure and decided to aim for her legs by doing the same attack. After all Xercoid had seen her jump over, so going under would work to her advantage.
She created another fireball with her lifeforce, running forward, but at the last second instead of jumping over with a wind spell, sliding on the ground with one, for extra force, and knocking Xercoid on the ground. That created a huge opening in Xercoid and she stabbed her with her knife in the stomach. Actually she wanted to go for the heart, but Xercoid's stomach didn't have any armor at all there, so it worked for her.
Before she could get on top of her and cut her neck, a beam of green light came down from the sky and hit Xercoid.
---
Well he messed up and had to use his daily power to aid him. He really didn't want to lose Saranie and start over. It would just ruin his day. If he died in game a few hours later when he planned to stop streaming then he would be fine with it, as he could start tomorrow with a fresh load with the mod. But for now he planned on trying his best. Afterall from the split second he was able to look at chat everyone was showing their support for him.
His daily power, that he unlocked when he became level one as a cleric, could fully heal anyone in his party from death once a day. Since he was alone, that would be him. Saranie was about to get on top of his avatar, but with wounds healed and renewed strength, he pushed her off and stumbled to his feet.
"I just wanted to help you." He was trying to get the NPC to stop, so he even put his mace on the ground. Thankfully Saranie did stop her attack when she saw him do that. "Please can we talk about this?" He looked at Chat for a split second to see what they were saying, but Saranie started sprinting towards him instead.
He was knocked down on the ground. She had both her legs stopping him from moving his arms and even kicked his mace away which hit the walls of the buildings nearby.
She looked at him, then said, "Yes, let's talk," before hitting him on the head and knocking him out.
Since he wasn't killed he wouldn't have to reload his save. Although if he would have been killed it would have just automatically deleted itself and he would start anew again. But since he was knocked out, the five second timer popped up. Once it was up, he would 'wake up' in his avatar again, wherever he would be.
---
That fight drew a lot of attention. Thankfully with her armor she was able to talk her way out without trouble. As soon as she was out of sight from the main group that saw her, she carried Xercoid back to the tavern. Well she took the back entrance to the building, went up stairs into the room the owner had been so kind to give her.
She didn't run into anyone thankfully and once inside her room she got to work. Dropping the elven woman in a chair, then tearing the bed sheets and making a makeshift rope, she tied her up.
It did take longer than expected for Xercoid to wake up, but she had prepared herself. Placing herself behind the chair, standing, with a knife already on Xercoid's throat. After all she could stop time and freeze her. This woman was the cause and she needed to take extra precautions. So she already cut her hand and created an anti magic barrier around herself with her lifeforce to prevent herself from being frozen. Actually that wasn't the only spell, but it was the one she expected to protect her from those effects.
Next, she was why she even left this woman alive. Clearly insisted that she wanted to help Saranie, but that wasn't why she didn't kill her. It was the energy from the sky, that she somehow passed off to the people as a more mundane magical skill. Anyway, in the books she skimmed over, the Star-born were able to have strong powers that came from the stars themselves, which is what happened to Xercoid.
This woman had a connection to the cultists and she wanted information. It was a huge risk, but there were rewards. Like how she was stopping time or whatever it was. Some Star-born skill or something else? It was a risk, but she had to take it.
As soon as Xercoid woke up, she began her questioning.
---
"Move or attempt to cast magic or even scream, you die. Answer my questions and you might live." Saranie's voice spoke from behind him.
Looking around he was in the tavern. A room, clearly. His hands and feet were tied up and from the pain on his neck the dagger she had used against him was currently there. A few dialouge options popped up, so he picked the one he thought was best for this moment.
"I will answer your questions to the best of my ability. Please tell me what I can help you with Saranie."
"I've been thinking a lot with the limited time I've had, but let's start with the one I want to know. You are Star-born, correct?"
"Yes, I am."
"Then you know about those cultists, correct?" Her voice became much more strained.
"Yes, I know about them." He replied as calmly as possible. While he wasn't really scared, the constant pain on his neck was a nuisance.
"Tell me everything you know about them."
"They are an old order. They want to bring beings of the stars back to this world and gain their power like that of Star-born, but to control and dominate the world." It was just the generic option. He really wished he could see his chat now. Sucks his arm was behind him.
"Did you not say the Star-born could ruin the world?"
"That is true, but I wouldn't do that." Well not right now. Maybe another run when he is playing something like a necromancer. It just doesn't feel right to play an evil cleric. Well he has done it before, but not really that fun.
"Let's change topics. Do you think I committed those crimes I was accused of?"
"No I don't."
"Why?"
There wasn't really an option to answer that the way he wanted. The options were much less than he needed for this moment.
[1: The queen is a fool. She wants you to take responsibility for this whole mess. Fruldas would like to learn what you know about the cultists in return for protection.]
[2: This ends now! (Attack)]
[3: (Cleric) You're injured, let me take a look, I can help you.]
Well since he had the mod installed, he was going to give open dialogue a go.
"It sounds like you were framed and I would like to find out the truth." Well it was better than nothing. But thankfully Saranie responded intelligently to his questions, so the mod was working.
"I see. Do you know anything about the 'Cult of The Void'?"
That was new. Could this be a glitch or was this something new. His dialogue options only referred to it as 'Cult of The Star' so he was guessing glitch. Xercoid chose the second option here.
"I already told you everything about the 'Cult of The Stars'." Which earned him a smack on the head and the knife digging deeper into his neck. He was confused.
"'Cult of The Void'. What do you know about them?" Her tone was not one that was happy with his answer. Looking over the options in front of him, they were just repeats of the ones before, so he answered without them.
"I don't know about them. I thought they were the same thing." He sighed, though it was difficult with a knife on his neck, but the pressure let up a little thanks to his answer. At least something was working, because he was starting to think the game was glitched.
"Do you know where the Vellheart Kingdom is?"
That caught him off guard. It wasn't a place in the game and he had no mods that included a place like that. Considering the lore of the in-game universe, that connects the games together, he didn't know if a place like that existed. While he loved these games and knew a lot about them, this name eluded him. Maybe it was some smaller kingdom that existed and Gennt's NPCs had that added in their AI.
Actually no dialogue options popped up at all, leaving him again to believe the game was broken and was about to restart if something like this happened again.
"No, I don't. I never heard of that place before." He responded more mechanically at this point.
"It was a long shot. Let's talk about something that has been bugging me since I met you. Those people you talk to, Chat, as you call them. What are they? People? Souls?"
"What?" That came out of his mouth fast. That question actually scared him. Afterall the mod that allowed to have his stream chat in-game couldn't be seen by the NPCs. It wasn't something even possible as it was an outside program, that didn't even run in game, but outside as a part of the software that loaded up the virtual reality headset. Even if an NPC could, which just isn't possible, they shouldn't have any dialogue to ask about it.
Gennt's mod to enhance the AI was remarkable if this was true, but he had his Dudes out the whole time and Saranie was the only one who questioned it. This was just too freaky for him. He paused the game.
"Gennt, your AI overhaul is amazing. I can't believe-" He tried to play it off like it didn't actually bother him, but he was a little freaked. But of course it got even freakier when Saranie spoke when his game was paused.
"Stop now." Her voice was as commanding and as scary to him at the same time. He didn't move or speak. He wanted to believe he was in the game or this was just a dream, but this was just too creepy for him. "Answer my question." As he heard that, he needed to make sure.
"Force Log Out."
---
A bright flash of Saranie's rainbow lifeforce flashed in front of her. It was just like when the portal closed.
Just like before, her ears were ringing. Body sweating and shivering like in a blizzard. Her eyes glazed over and became blurry. Her senses were breaking a part, pain wracked her body and she fell to the ground or what she assumed was ground.
---
Xercoid took off his headset and looked at chat. His body was adjusting to the Force Log Out. Blinking to clear his vision, he looked at chat. The rest of his body would catch up shortly.
It seems like they were thinking his game crashed. It didn't, but maybe what happened there was all in his head.
Well he was still too freaked out to play today, so he typed into his chat.
[Sorry guys got a call, have to get off. Thanks Dudes for coming to my stream today. I'll be on tomorrow. I think the save might have gotten corrupted, so we'll have to restart.]
He watched his chat saying their goodbyes and he leaned back in his chair. That was too much.
'The point where machines become too real is just-' He thought, before something caught his attention.
He turned around as his ears caught a shuffling behind him. His eyes landed on an armored figure holding a knife with blood in her hands on the ground clutching her head. How he knew it was a woman, because it was clearly Saranie. This has to be a dream now. He didn't want this to be real, because either it was… or he was going crazy.
He pinched himself and he felt pain, true pain. He started breathing heavily, jumping out of his chair and ran out of the room. But he didn't make it far and a hand grabbed his foot.
"Who…ha… are you?" Saranie was panting behind him