Free Continue Online (Part 4, Crash) by Stephan Morse Page A

stretched to their maximum range. Maybe there was an odd combination of footwork being done.
    “Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your squicky hands in my direction. If you end up on my team, I’m offing you before you can suicide on a pull,” the rumbling one spoke.
    “What are you all talking about?” My eyes and neck strained to see the two of them. The guy with a deep voice talking about an ID skill looked to be Hispanic. It might have been the avatar or an in-game skill. Tips of his hair actually held a pale whiteness to them, almost as though they would glow in the dark.
    “First tour?” the deep voice man asked me.
    “Yeah,” I said. “I’m Hermes. Thanks for getting my name right.”
    “Nah, your name is Mister Daft.”

     
Possible Alias: Mister Daft
    Details: Alias skills allow a player to mask their primary name with a secondary one. The effectiveness of an alias depends on when and where it’s used. Further development of an alias takes work and time. Large scale deeds under an alternate name can help establish an alias.
    Note : Other Travelers may see past an alias depending upon their skill usage.
     
    “Or Hermes,” I offered, neither name bothered me that much at this point. My interest lay in all those details they were spouting. Those prisoners back in the jail cell believed this was a terrible place to be, yet three of these players had conversed already.
    Maybe there was a certain amount of disconnect, this was a virtual world after all. There was pain feedback when we died, nothing minor either. Especially considering the heart attack I had been exposed to as William Carver. Maybe they all made choices like I did.
    “Alright, Hermes. Some ground rules to make life easier during your stay,” the big tanned guy said. He didn’t bother turning his head much. “Listen up, ‘cus those that don’t get boned quick.”
    “I still like Mister Daft. Daft, ‘cus he’s got air between his ears.”
    “Don’t listen to him, he’s got some skill that makes NPCs believe his lies. Works on players also,” the rumbling one said. I tried to use [Identification] but the skills were locked. Mine, at least, but this other guy had managed to figure out my name at some point. Maybe we were unlocked briefly in order to do dungeon stuff.
    “Shut up, convicts!” A guard pressed something hanging off the giraffe oxen monster then pain arched through our bindings. The big guy ground his teeth a little. I yelped from the unexpected spike. Others made varying noises.
    “No one here is your friend unless circumstances force it. We’re headed to a team dungeon, but expect no favors just because you’re grouped,” he tried to whisper but failed. Apparently it was good enough for the guards.
    “Okay.” All sorts of ideas raced through my brain.
    “I’m only talking because I enjoy a certain amount of fairness, and don’t bother asking why we’re in. To sum this shit up, at least four people here are in for murdering everyone they could before enough other players brought them down.” The Hispanic guy shrugged. “Seven others got burglary raps, add in some political hatred or getting on the wrong side of quests. Squisks back there tried to touch a bunch of elf girls who may be eighty but are mentally eight.”
    “Game’s rigged. They were legal,” said the man and grumbled. “Way, way over eighteen!”
    “Jesus, you kill him before he suicides and I’ll consider it a personal favor. Same offer I make to everyone else. Free pass.”
    “How many times!?” the guard yelled as armor clinked. Another round of electrical collar abuse kicked in. This time, everyone cried out except the big darkly tanned guy who had been explaining things to me. “If the new guy needs to know something, he can learn by trial and error, or check that guide shit you Travelers have.”
    “Calm down, Knight Middleton,” said the other armored figure. He rode on a creature that looked as if someone had shoved a gazelle and bull