They left the plaza at the corner between the Realm Defenders and the Royal Bank buildings, then walked in silence for a while. The alley was surprisingly quiet, with only a handful of pedestrians going back and forth, and Sean was paying most of his attention to the candle and particularly to its flame. He thought, 'What an ingenious way to guide players to the quest location! Diegetic, maybe?' Just as the adventurers' tags apparently were. He wondered what kind of intelligence the NPCs had and whether he could–
"Maybe this place," Emma suggested, and he stopped abruptly – almost dropping the candle!
"What?" he asked, confused. "Which place, where– The candle is pointing…"
She stood a couple of steps back, half-turned and pointing toward a store in the narrow, winding alley. She sighed, then reminded him, "About your tag?"
"Oh, right, umm…" he mumbled. "Of course." He approached the entrance with her and it turned out to be some jewelry or antique store, though mostly devoid of customers. Then again, every shop in this medieval world would probably seem 'antique.' He asked, "What is this place? Have you been here before?"
"Nah," Emma remarked while walking to the shopkeeper.
Sean got even more confused. He began, "Then why are we–"
"Because it's empty!" she broke in and pointed at an old man behind the counter. "Go ahead, just ask him to hide your tag or whatever."
He stopped at the counter and looked the elderly NPC up and down. The man put down a trinket he had been cleaning and asked, "Good afternoon, adventurers. How can I help you?"
Sean exhaled tiredly – it already felt like infodumping in the Realm Defenders entry hall all over again… But Emma stood there with her phone out, typing. Or maybe she had never pocketed it in the first place? In any case, he cleared his throat and adopted a more careful tone with this NPC, "Can you help me with hiding the player– I mean, my adventurer's tag, please?"
The shopkeeper explained, "Certainly, I can direct you to the nearest temple where–"
"No, but…" Sean cut in and glanced at Emma's lack-of-player-tag to confirm that it could be done. He added, "Okay, I know about the priests – but can you do it real quick here? We're in a bit of a hurry…"
The old man started, "It's generally recommended to consult priests for–"
"Cut the crap, okay? This is stupid," Emma complained with her eyes glued to the phone. She finally looked at the NPC and pressed, "Just do it already, Omega."
The man frowned for a few seconds, then the small room dimmed slightly. Sean glanced up and the shining player tag was gone.
The shopkeeper advised, "You shouldn't be abusing meta-commentary-"
"Whatever! Let's go…" she cut him off and turned to the exit.
"Wait, what about the party?" Sean reminded her, then turned to the shopkeeper and asked, "Is there any trick to forming a party? Do we need to be–"
"But we're already in a party," Emma stated impatiently.
Sean turned to her and said, "Are we, though? Look, let's just– It sounded specific in the lecture." He looked at the old NPC to confirm, "Or are we?"
The local started, "The procedure to form a party requires–" A loud, exasperated groan from Emma interrupted the explanation, so he simply concluded, "Fine, you're in a party."
"See? Told you so – can we go now?" she asked rhetorically as she was already on her way out.
Sean nodded to the old man as a simple courtesy, or perhaps out of gratitude for helping him conceal his formal class. It would be awkward having to explain why a Tank was wearing leather armor. And for the whole partying up shortcut, too.
He caught up to Emma and asked, "How did you– I didn't know the NPCs were linked to Omega."
"Who else?" she commented while reading something.
He considered it as they continued the walk to wherever the candle led them, and… it made sense – after all, Omega had created all this through whatever means, so naturally all NPCs should be connected to it. Still, he tried to explain himself, "I assumed they were more like autonomous agents or maybe–"
"Whatever," Emma interjected.
"Well, it worked, so thanks I guess," Sean offered. No reaction, other than the screen-tapping. He asked after a moment, "So what's the deal with the phone?"
"It's nothing," she immediately answered.
He glanced at Emma – she was scrolling on her phone – then down at the ground. The street was fairly even, but medieval cobblestones weren't exactly perfectly smooth – so it felt like a quick way to break the screen… or a leg or two. "It's clearly something," he observed, no response – so he speculated, "Is that your boyfriend or–"
"No, it's not…" she cut in and frowned a little.
"I mean, it's fine if it is – not trying to flirt or anything like that," he reassured while obviously trying to flirt. No response, so he teased, "Is it a girlfriend, then?"
"What!" she raised her voice and stopped walking, staring at him.
Sean turned around and explained, "I'm just saying, no discrimination or–"
"Can't you just drop it already?" Emma interrupted.
A middle-aged guy, lvl-three Mystic in cloth robes skirted around them and commented, "Get a room, you two!"
Sean did his best to ignore that remark, but wondered how long the player had been listening in on them. He raised an eyebrow at Emma and tried to joke, "You mean drop the quest candle, or…" He paused, but she just shook her head and resumed walking, eyes once more on the screen. He added, "Just be careful not to drop the phone…"
He wasn't sure if a faint smile flashed across her face, or maybe it was a light reflection – but he did decide to drop the topic indeed.
The alley turned a bit, and he noticed an opening in the city walls – a tunnel through solid stone. Sean had never been to Europe or anywhere else with such fortifications, so he found it rather intimidating. Their footsteps began echoing off the facades and nearby walls. The candle flamed toward the gate, confirming they were heading the right way.
"Looks like that's the west gate," he observed.
"Uh-huh," Emma replied without taking her eyes off the phone.
He asked, "Any hints as to– Wait, how did your previous run go?"
"Just don't die, whatever," she evaded.
"Is that what happened? I saw your leg, there's no need to…" Sean finally brought it up, but trailed off as he noticed that Emma had stopped again. He turned around to find her glaring at him. He half-consciously glanced down at her torn pant leg – except she had already tucked it behind the other. He then added, "What? Are you 'that trad' ?"
"No," she replied, fuming. Her piercing gaze assaulted Sean like some kind of psychic attack.
"Then what– Look, I can't just avoid…" he protested and sighed, then speculated, "Let me guess, doesn't matter and whatever – is that right?"
"It's not…" she started, but trailed off and stared at her feet.
Sean waited a few seconds. Several people passed by. He decided to step closer and offer, "Should I start guessing what might be wrong? Or you could just tell me…" Nothing. He remembered how she had mentioned loads of rats everywhere . "Did the rats overwhelm you, and then–"
"Stop," Emma broke in and defiantly gazed into his eyes. "You promise you won't make fun of me?" He just nodded. She gritted her teeth for a moment, then admitted, "It wasn't like…" She turned to the side and continued after a pause, "It was just one, okay? But they're pretty nasty, and…" She sighed, then explained, "Jeans aren't exactly the right defense against–"
He tried to interject, "Then why didn't you change into–"
"Like a bunch of cosplay-robes would've helped!" she raised her voice to cut him off. Sean looked to the side and people were already glancing at them, but not yet stopping to stare. He decided not to comment on her making a scene. Emma added before he could come up with anything to say, "It's all stupid, whatever. You'll be fine with your fancy cosplay-armor, I'm sure."
He started, "It's not cosplay when–"
"Let's just go there, you'll see," she cut in and resumed walking to the gate.
Sean exhaled wearily and thought, 'What a drama queen!' But he managed not to blurt out any snarky comments and they approached the gate. The passage opened into an area with several other alleys and two large avenues connecting to it. Sean noticed some blacksmith shops, city guard detachments, defensive emplacements prepared out of the way – seemingly ready for deployment at a moment's notice. He had no idea what most of these things were for, but it all looked very professional and… sharp.
The exit from the city consisted of a large, rectangular gatehouse with three inner sections. Footsteps and carts echoed around the spacious interior – and yet it felt claustrophobic. As if various traps and mechanisms could be sprung any second now. Merchant traffic was mostly moving into the city, but the tunnel was wide enough to allow players to leave without issues. No drawbridge or moat, so they turned the corner as the candle guided them, and Sean finally saw…
Rats.
They were some distance away, maybe three or four hundred feet, but truly loads of them – and not just any rodents – the 'oversized rats' were true to their name. Many dozens of dog-sized beasts among the players fighting them. He stopped and observed the scenery: the field was almost completely flat, grass trimmed neatly, no visual obstructions. People were moving back and forth: fresh players to fight the beasts and the bloodied, exhausted ones coming back. A wide river a little farther away, and the rats were coming from that direction. Sean wondered if these were river-rats, or…
Still, not quite a full-blown battlefield – but it looked pretty nasty.
"Yeah, they're pretty nasty," Emma repeated her earlier remark as if reading his thoughts, while standing next to him.
"Was it that bad?" Sean asked absentmindedly. "I mean, not making fun but– No-wait, did the rat… What happened?"
She sighed and explained , "Nothing happened, but they have sharp claws and teeth, okay?"
'Clearly an understatement,' he noted to himself, then tried, "Well–"
"So just be careful and– I'm sure you'll do just fine," she talked over him. "And if you do get in trouble – don't count on me to save your butt. I won't hesitate to bolt if things get hairy this time ."
"Okay," he simply said, considering the last remark, then clarified, "Wait, but you'll still heal me, right?"
She seemed almost annoyed at this request and suggested, "Just… try not to need any healing, okay?"
Sean nodded, feeling confident about his exploiting skills. Technically, he had never held anything even resembling a melee weapon – other than a kitchen knife, maybe, if that counted. But the training dummy was simple enough and he was armed with five starter attack skills from all the melee classes… though he probably shouldn't use the Paladin's 'Smite' in the open. Too shiny.
So he put out the candle and secured it in his pocket, then grabbed both axes from his belt. They felt… weird, heavy. Sean had practiced with them in the lecture room, but this time it felt more real. No longer facing a training dummy…
"Having second thoughts?" Emma taunted.
"No, no, just… fine, yeah, I suppose," he admitted, then added, "Or maybe more like doubts ? But wait, if they do scratch or bite me… how badly does it hurt? Just in case–"
"You'll see," she interjected.
He smirked and thought, 'Just a game, even if it happens to be a reality-game,' and headed toward the river and the swarms of oversized rats seemingly emerging from it.