Fantasy Justice: Incarceration

Sunday, February 29th, 2060

East of Felorius, Unholy Alliance Territory

May Roberts followed a woodland path toward the safe questing zone. It was a sunny and mild day, and the forest was beautiful. Though all of it appeared completely real, she knew it was just a computer simulation. Visual, auditory, tactile, and even olfactory data was being fed into her nervous system while her brain sat immobile in a machine. Even her body, which seemed to breathe and move as easily as it did in the real world, was a coded process taking in commands from her carefully measured neural impulses.

The only clear evidence of her world’s fictional status was the heads up display overlaid onto her normal field of vision. The semitransparent controls of the HUD included a map, numerous buttons, and data on her condition. The controls could be manipulated if she simply willed it so, as naturally as she could move her limbs or tail.

Technically, that last was a further indication that this was not reality. May—who had chosen the game’s demon player race for its damage stat bonus—had small red horns, a long red tail, and bat-like wings. The wings rested on her back like a cloak. Her once brown eyes were also red. For the sake of appealing to Fantasy’s audience, she had foregone her preferred masculine attire in favor of something more revealing. Besides all these modifications, she had kept her real world appearance.

May saw a sign of movement in her peripheral vision. She turned her head slightly, but kept walking. The demon player was fairly certain she could see a hint of someone hiding behind a tree. After two seconds of watching, the HUD confirmed this by performing one of its functions—showing a nameplate, which floated above the head of the almost hidden figure.

The nameplate was a label filled with data on whomever she happened to be looking at, including name, experience (XP), inmate number, crime, groups, and status bars. What was most important to May was the group entry, Raid: Pay Us (10). The ten was the number of players in the group. The name “Pay Us” implied that the members of this raid were bandits running a protection racket, rather than actual raiders. May was surprised they would bother with such a weak area—it implied that they were new to this. Regardless, they would not let her pass without accosting her.

May considered her options. She could try to escape to the safe zone, which according to her map was about four hundred meters ahead. Unfortunately, as a minimum XP player her stamina stat was low—she could not make that distance at more than a jog. And if an attacker caught up with her, she would be forced to fight temporarily weakened.

She decided it was best to try to intimidate her way out of this mess. May came to a halt. “You people really need to work on your ambushes!” she called out, looking around. “Now, why don’t we have a nice little chat?”

Figures dressed in vaguely medieval clothes and chain mail armor melted out of the shadows of the dense forest. They walked up to the edge of path on both sides. May checked the nameplates of a couple more of the interlopers. So far everyone was at zero percent XP, as she was. It was unfortunate that the bandits were of mixed race—had they all been black, she might have defused the situation by spouting some bullshit about how they were all in this together, ’cause fuck whitey. Fantasy was not as racist as the traditional prison system, but it was not a font of harmony either.

One tall man stepped onto the path behind her, and she turned to face him. After the customary delay, she was supplied with a new nameplate. His XP was listed as twelve percent—this gave him an edge over her in the game’s combat stats.

He spoke with a seemingly friendly tone. “By all means, let’s chat. My associates and I, upstanding citizens of Felorius as we are, are patrolling these woods for monsters. In exchange for keeping adventurers such as yourself safe from these terrible beasts, we would appreciate a donation. If you’ll show me your inventory, I’ll decide what constitutes a reasonable contribution at your current income level.”

Even if May had been stupid enough to take those words at face value, there was no missing the ominous laughs of several of the bandits. Showing her inventory list would put her at a disadvantage—she did not want these enemies to know that she only had two healing potions.

“Let me show you the only items in my inventory that concern you,” she said with a vicious grin. She held her hands in front of her, keeping them in nearly closed fists. With practiced ease, she mentally pressed the inventory button on her HUD and manipulated the controls to call forth her weapons.

A visible wind flowed together and coalesced into glowing white khopesh swords. After appearing in her hands, the swords turned almost immediately to bronze. She had positioned her arms so the weapons would materialize crossed before her body. May then quickly brought her hands down beside her, enjoying the sound as her blades cut through the air.

“Now, now, don’t be like that,” the bandit leader replied. With the same graphical flourish, he summoned a two-handed sword nearly as tall as he was. Small spikes of rock then appeared along the sharp edges of the weapon. The spikes started moving rapidly along the edge in a manner reminiscent of an electric knife. There was also a low buzzing noise. This was the stone strike spell, which passively enhanced weapon damage. “Help a brother out—that is, help me to not run you through with this thing.” Again, some of his followers laughed.

“Don’t patronize me, you fucking jackass,” she snarled. She then raised her voice. “Listen up, people. Let me tell you what I see here—a bunch of townies who got tired of groveling to raiders for work, and who think they can safely make their gold with threats alone. It doesn’t work that way. If at least one of you isn’t willing to fight me to the death, I go back into town and tell everyone how full of shit you are. And how goddamn lazy the name ‘Pay Us’ is.

“Actually playing the game well get you more gold, and it’s safer. Because if I don’t kill you, the hunters probably will—and if they don’t, the Guild Assassins definitely will.” Admittedly, May was partially bluffing here—she had heard rumors of a group called the “Guild Assassins” who dealt with problem inmates. But she was not completely sure they actually existed.

Apparently, some of those present had heard the same rumors, because they shrank back from her slightly. The leader narrowed his eyes at her. With a roar, he swung his sword directly at her head in a downward swing.

May did not bother to move a muscle. The sword bounced off her separation field with a tiny flash of light and a slight hum, as she knew it would. The field then went invisible once more. “Ooh, so scary. Do you think I don’t know the rules? I’m at zero XP—no one over ten percent can attack me unless I agree to it. And it doesn’t matter how many of you there are. An attacking group can’t outnumber the defenders. I guess the company prefers fair fights—more exciting for the viewers at home.

“Now, is someone who can attack me gonna put their ass on the line, or are you people actually smart enough to reevaluate your lives before you get yourselves killed?”

One man proved that he was not smart enough when he temporarily dropped out of the raid. A warning appeared on May’s HUD giving the name of her attacker. Fortunately, the player vs. player (PvP) rules also stipulated a two second delay before any combat could begin—this prevented cheap shots, and it gave May ample time to find the bandit who was materializing his sword and shield. For the duration of this combat, no other player could attack her.

May quickly analyzed the situation as the bandit charged. By his nameplate, her opponent was also at zero XP. So that was a wash. All inmates in Fantasy had the same level of physical strength, regardless of size or gender. He was larger than her, which gave him slightly longer reach. It also made him a hair slower—assuming he did not have a speed gem. But she doubted any of these scrubs besides the leader could afford such a thing.

The battle was joined with the loud clash of metal striking metal. May blocked the bandit’s first attack with one sword, while countering with the other. The enemy barely interposed his shield in time, stumbling back. She pressed her advantage with a further assault, and kept him on the defensive.

May’s khopesh swords had a unique shape—they started straight like a normal blade before curving sharply. This formed a hook that could be used to more easily trip an opponent or turn aside his weapon. The outer edge of the hook focused weight near the end of the blade, similar to an axe head. This gave her more power, though it also made the weapon slightly more unwieldy. The curvature also reduced the reach of the weapon. This did not trouble May—she preferred to get up close and personal.

The bandit continued to give up ground, hoping to create some distance and regain initiative, but May was not having it. Her continued attacks kept him off balance. She skillfully blocked or evaded his counters. She also scored a few glancing strikes, leaving behind red lines and lowering his health bar. If it reached zero, he was dead—and her XP went up a tick.

To be sure, her enemy was no slouch. His attacks were slightly weak, but his defense with the shield was more than competent. It took some time before May found her opening. On a back swing, she pulled aside his sword with one of her blades, and then brought the other down hard on his wrist.

In real life, the bandit’s hand would have been severed. But Fantasy Justice was entertainment for the whole family. May’s blade passed right through the still-attached wrist, leaving behind a simple red line. The damage caused the hand to briefly stop functioning, and the sword tumbled from her enemy’s grasp. His health bar also shrunk considerably.

While her opponent was still distracted by the pain, May kicked his shield into his body. He fell on his ass. Her next attack was aimed squarely at his head, but he interposed the shield.

In a panic, he scrambled to his feet and sprinted away into the woods, dropping the shield. May’s last swipe cut across his back, and though it missed her intended target—his heart—her attack lowered his health to below half its maximum value.

The bandit’s sword glowed white, and after dissociating into wind it disappeared back into his inventory. The shield soon did the same. Unfortunately, it was impossible to steal his gear because of this game mechanic. May was unwilling to pursue him—according to the HUD, her exertions had lowered her stamina considerably. Now that she had stopped moving so much, the stat gradually began to recover. A chase might drain it entirely, which would leave her limbs so sluggish that it would drastically reduce her fighting ability.

With her opponent far out of range, May turned back toward the remaining bandits. They had crowded onto the path to watch the fight, and nearly all of them shrank back as she glared at them.

“Who’s next?” She grinned and spread her demon wings to their full two meter span. All the bandits save the leader ran into the woods—he at least maintained some dignity by walking away. With a thought May folded her wings onto her back once more.

A message on the HUD told May that combat had ended. This happened automatically if an opponent was more than one hundred meters away. May considered the battle. She had proven to herself that she could fight just as well in actual combat as she could in practice duels. And while she had not gained any XP out of this encounter, it was a victory that she was still alive.

She continued her walk toward the safe zone. One thing was for sure—the paltry gold and experience she had gotten from questing today was not worth this aggravation. She needed to find a group and start running dungeons.