What a good screenshot that would be

Nights in Rockbase were quite charming, provided it was not raining. After all, Sorostade and Rockbase seemed to be closer to the tropics than most people living in their world’s northern hemisphere were used to.

The Players of Rockbase never felt cold, but the pleasant balance between the land’s warmth and the coolness of night was welcome and appreciated. Oblivia was one such person who enjoyed this climate. Back in her real life, she was always cold. Not anymore. And on top of that she had a drink, a comfortable seat, and enjoyable company, even if unexpected. T

Six people sat on a rooftop facing the parent city, Sorostade, and its lights. There were not many of them, since the main source was still fire and fossils, but on the plus side of this shortcoming was that the constellations they named after fantasy creatures only weeks before were as visible as they could get.

Oblivia was new here. The rooftop of Esther’s house was roughly in the central part of Rockbase, but still Sorostade seemed to be quite far. Rockbase was, in general, deceptive in its appearance. Its sprawl was greater than a town of such a population would be. In a real world with real people, there were families living together. But here, almost every house was inhabited by one person, Oblivia noted. This is why we mingle in the streets. Now that’s one unchanged thing between an MMORPG game and our current lives, haha.

Oblivia the Portal Diver, Oneiron, Seelastraxx, Cobbalt, T1c, and Esther sat in a semicircle, engaged in conversation. Their weapons laid on the floor, vests and jackets were unbuttoned, and in the case of a certain Priestess, a pair of tall shoes joined the weapons. It was late evening when they started, and now almost midnight. A fat, stocky barrel was used for a table, and crates and sacks for seats. They had no light source, and instead relied on the pale light of the two moons alone. Such was life in Rockbase still, but a month before they had not even that. Who could know what they would have a month forward?

‘Hmm, what is that?’ Oblivia swirled the liquid in her cup made of tinted glass. ‘I like it. It’s delicately sweet, but not fruity-sweet… more like flower-sweet?’

‘It’s called haya, or that’s what this label on the bottle says. Want some more?’ offered Oneiron to the evening’s guest of honor. She reached forward with her cup towards him, and he obliged. ‘Watch it, though. It hits your head when you least expect it, and we still have some of the story to hear.’

She told them everything from the moment she jumped into the portal, and how she emerged on the other side on a sulfur-stinking volcanic plateau where the very ground itself was hot to the touch, to the moment she died upon discovery of some kind of tomb.

‘Then it was not within a two-hundred kilometer radius from here,’ pointed out Esther. ‘We never found an active volcano, unless scouts somehow missed it.’

‘I’m guessing it was far to the south. My notes have more details on that.’

Of all the faces that listened to her, the outsider, Cobbalt, seemed to be the most interested. ‘There was no such thing in our area as those Rifts. We would know if there was,’ he had explained long a week before. Oblivia for her part was stunned to hear that no other Portal Diver had yet returned, except those who died immediately on contact with the Rift, and that a visitor from another community of Players arrived on the same day she departed.

‘I have maps of my area, and I killed some interesting monsters. Maybe I will make some nice pocket money off that. I had to flee a few times, those fiery salamanders literally set me on fire on occasion,’ she demonstrated charred pieces of equipment. never saw any humans, though, real or otherwise. What is real, anyway…’ she waved her hand. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t bring anything more useful. Hey, Monk friend, thanks for coming over! My failure feels lesser because of you!’ She raised her glass to him. Cobbalt laughed and returned the gesture. The glasses clinked over the makeshift table.

‘Hey now, I don’t think I’m particularly useful either to be honest, so there’s two of us! I don’t know how much me coming here changed anything. Also, this might be a good moment to say that I should be returning soon. East, across the sea. I have a few friends who are waiting. Ah, but it’s going to be a pain!’ he moaned, and covered his face with his hand. ‘On the way here, I had favourable winds. They will work against me this time, unless there’s been a shift, or I find an alternative route. And I must be careful not to die, because I will spawn here. Oh boy. I better take lotsa food with me.’

On hearing this, Esther, who had been very careful not to look at Cobbalt all evening, finally broke and sent a worried glance his way.

‘We need to stay in contact somehow,’ Seelastraxx said. ‘In case we need cooperation and what not.’

‘Yeah, but it’s not happening without Waygates or, I don’t know, some other form of instant messaging,’ observed Oneiron.

‘Alright, so how many Divers do we still have unaccounted for?’ Seelastraxx asked, capturing Esther’s attention.

‘Three,’ she said right away.

‘Hmm… I wonder if one landed somewhere near Upperland’s capital. What was its name again? Right, Highmesa.’

‘How different is your place from ours?’ Oblivia asked Cob, curious to learn more before the opportunity goes away.

‘It’s colder. You wouldn’t like it,’ everyone laughed. ‘It’s more dry, hilly, and full of lakes. And last I checked, we did not have any structure or government. For Players, I mean. Everyone just… does their own thing. Most have just dispersed in every direction, sticking to their Clans or groups of friends. You really do it better. We also have resources like gold, silver, salt, gems.’

‘That’s pretty useless,’ commented T1c with atypical cynicism.

‘How so?’ Oblivia asked. ‘Isn’t money good?’

‘A little money is good. We kill a monster here and there, take its loot, or sell its parts for profit, then we buy food, drinks, clothes. But tons of money? If you have all the money in this world, what are you going to buy? The greatest king in this world lives in standards worse than a regular person’s in our world. We have toilets. In-house. A shower in every apartment. Dentists. Vaccination. Antibiotics. I can go on, you get the picture.’

‘Don’t remind me about showers…’ said Seelastraxx sadly, sniffing her hair and not being happy with the result.

‘How do you keep it looking that good, then?’ asked Oblivia, curious. She had cut her hair short to minimize maintenance cost, and now was a little envious.

‘I’m cheating. Priest privilege.’

‘Salt is super useful, though,’ pointed out Oneiron. ‘It’s amazing at preserving food. We should be telling all our dungeon groups to look for salt veins underground and harvest them if they can. If we had a salt mine…’ he trailed off.

‘Speaking of kings and living conditions, we met the Regent today,’ said T1c. ‘He asked all about Upperland, and we told him everything we could. But Tepper kept all the information to himself, which I find weird and I don’t know what to make of it. But the bigger news is he said Waygates never existed here, and that he won’t help us look into history again, because the Temple has all the records and they don’t like us because of Seela-’

‘I heard that.’

‘-and we owe him a favour now, too.’

‘We won’t be needing them for the foreseeable future anyway,’ Oneiron cheered them up.

‘It’s not the end of the story. On the way back we were pulled aside by good ol’ Tarvis. I won’t repeat the whole conversation, here’s the juice: he thinks Tepper will at some point either screw us over, or try to control us by denying something important to us - as soon as he knows what we need. If the key to our escape is ever in his hands, we’re frakked.’

Swings of drinks were gulped in silence as the information sank in.

‘Well, he’s a frakking gruul,’ Seelastraxx said. ‘And the Pontifex. Pour me more, would you?’ she asked Oneiron.

‘Sure. Esther, would you like som- oh, she’s asleep. How adorable.’

‘Ah, if only we had smartphones here! Such a good group photo opportunity!’ said Seelastraxx, pretending to hold an imaginary camera and take a selfie with sleeping Esther.

‘Hehe, add it to the list of things we would like to have,’ joked T1c. ‘This evening would be such a good screenshot.’

‘Actually, on that note, guys. You know what? It’s kind of nice to have almost nothing, and start from scratch,’ Oneiron finished refilling cups and gestured around himself at the makeshift housing, furniture, and slapped his pocket. ‘I used to be loaded on in-game money, and I had tons of assets in the storage. But when I woke up here, I only had some change in my pocket, like everyone else. And now, months later, I’m sitting on a box with buddies, with no lights, wearing my only change of clothes, I’m drinking some good moonshine, and having a good time.’

‘I think you’ve had enough. Give me the bottle,’ Seelastraxx said.