Work today was rough, Merrick got back to his apartment several hours later than normal and was ready to escape reality. Today's flavor of escapism came in the form of a new VR game: Dungeons Below.
It came highly recommended and even though it had been out for more than a few years, Merrick had never heard of it. Though, as soon as he had started to read up on it, he knew that he had to try it out for himself.
Five out of five stars.
Dungeons Below was heralded as the most immersive role playing game ever created. As far as modern RPGs went, it seemed to be the apex. According to the forums that Merrick had found, it not only had the diverse skill systems, but also the most open ended crafting and magic systems ever seen. There were entire threads on several forums where current players shared not only crafting recipes, but theories and ideas for more advanced items.
So far, as long as the player sunk sufficient hours grinding at a task, it seemed like creativity was the limit. There was also an evolving class system and an in-depth title/trophy system. For a game with a relatively small user base, only a fraction of the major MMORPGs, it seemed to have a fanatic following. The more Merrick read, the less he paid attention. Eventually the words melted together into a single though: Why haven't you played yet?
The truth was, even though the game had publicly launched, it was still invite-only. Even though he had not heard of it before receiving his invite from Mousion Entertainment, the company behind Dungeons Below, Merrick was ready to dive in just a few hours after the email came in. So he made the purchase while at work today, set it up to automatically download to his home network, and waited impatiently through the day.
Merrick's apartment was by no means spacious. That meant when he cleared a space to set up the boundaries for his VR play area, his livable area in the apartment dropped significantly. The living room had been comfortable, but now that the play area took up most of it, the rest of the furniture seemed crammed to one side. A couch, a TV, and a bookshelf that were barely far enough apart to use.
Even though space allowed, Merrick rarely lounged there. The most he used any of it for was to sleep on the couch after a long VR session or to pick up a game from the bookshelf. If he was in the living room, he was often in VR.
So when he got settled into the apartment after work, he immediately went to the play area and donned his headset. Before covering his eyes and escaping to the virtual, Merrick cast a quick glance around to make sure that nothing had fallen into his safe space.
Safety checked, Merrick lowered his headset and powered up the console that it was attached to. His "virtual home" was a bland outline of his real apartment. There were options to display digital art or have imaginary pets run around, but Merrick never cared much for those options. Instead, he selected the hovering icon in the center of his field of vision. Dungeons Below. Someday he might reorganize it into one of the folders on the system drive but for now he just wanted to play.
The game began loading. It prompted him to log in or create an account. He had already taken care of that online so he just forced the login from another program. There was a brief, vague welcome message while an equally vague drone-like video of a dungeon run played in the background.
Then the tutorial loaded. Merrick knew what to do. Not only had he played hundreds of thousands of games for countless hours, his online research got him ready to breeze through the tutorial.
Unlike the grim appearance one might expect in a dungeon delving game, the tutorial's decor was that of a quaint cottage room. The most outstanding feature of the room was the mock avatar that stood blank, ready for his customization, in the center of the room. Merrick looked around, there were a few different menus hovering just off the walls. Each containing various sliders, options, and enhancements that could be added to his avatar.
Rather than mess with sliders and knobs or walk around with a sculpting tool to make his avatar perfect. Merrick simply copied his avatar's appearance from a template stored on his system drive. It was nearly a mirror of himself.
Average height, somewhere closer to a medium build than a light one. Arms that were a little longer than they should be. Dark brown hair cut short and an unremarkable face. The only difference between the avatar and Merrick's physical body was that his eyes were light brown and the avatar's eyes were silver.
A notification popped up asking if he wanted to accept the changes to his avatar. After he selected yes, Merrick found a mirror in one corner of the room and made sure all of the data loaded in properly.
Once that was done, he headed for the open archway beyond the mock avatar. Creating the avatar required the most effort in the tutorial, everything else sped by with practiced ease. After all, Merrick was no stranger to VR games.
He moved from task to task while speed-reading notices. He picked up pegs and placed them in holes on wooden game boards. He carried a basket from one room to another. There was a stack of blocks to break down, sort, and then stack up again.
It was all too easy. These tasks were better suited for a "Welcome to VR" program than a full blown game but even doing these simple tasks, everything felt too real.
The way the game was simulating the sensations and resistances tricked even Merrick, who had played nearly every VR game on the market, into thinking that he was actually living these experiences. In the end, a quick lift of his headset let him double check that he actually was still in his play area.
The tutorial was generic and mostly focused on motion or item control. Once he reached the end, Merrick learned why. The tutorial had been nothing more than a simple set of rooms with labels, tasks, and a progress bar.
However, the last room did not have another task for him to complete. There was no banner, board, or set of blocks. Instead there was a portal of swirling white energy in the center of the room. After walking around it, Merrick was certain that there was no information given and no task to perform; it was simply a portal for him to step through. When he entered the portal, the tutorial ended and he did not immediately load into a new room.
Instead, he stood in a vast nothingness. Darkness was all he could see in the distance and at his feet was a swirling pool of mist that would have covered his avatar's feet, if they had been there. Instead he was just a floating point of view with no avatar.
After a moment, a small screen popped up in front of his field of vision. It offered a choice that he had read about but forgot during the tutorial.
Would you like to experience Dungeons Below as an Adventurer or as a Guardian?
Offense or Defense. Those were the play-modes for Dungeons Below, as Merrick had read ahead of time. It was one of the few games that offered those who wanted to, the experience of building, maintaining, staffing, and protecting a dungeon. From what Merrick had read, the Guardian experience was the most detailed, in-depth, of its kind.
However, Merrick spent his days maintaining an old bookstore filled with dusty tomes. Now he wanted to run through battles, not coordinate an overly complicated Tower Defense game. He chose the path of an Adventurer. His choice was confirmed.
A second screen appeared. This one gave him a choice between three low-level classes: Warrior, Thief, Mage. It also mentioned that there were higher level versions, as well as alternates for every class, that would become available the further he made it into the game.
Merrick selected Mage without opening up the more information for any of the three options. He had already done his research and decided on his starting class before even booting up the game. Once again, it had him confirm his choice and when he did, a final screen appeared. At the top was a timer, counting down from ten.
Commencing random dungeon assignment.
Once the randomly assigned dungeon has been cleared new options will open up.
If-
The timer ended and the screen vanished before Merrick could finish reading. His visions shifted as his surroundings loaded in. The walls were stone, formed with large blocks. There was a rusted metal gate to his left. A messy straw mattress on the ground to his right. He said the first thought that went through his head was…
"Jail?"
This was definitely not what he had expected. The layout reminded him of an older game and he imagined an ancient king would soon come to his cell only to say that he's seen Merrick in his dreams. After waiting for a few moments to make sure that there were no NPCs coming to greet him, Merrick turned his attention to the cell.
He checked the door first, just to confirm that he was locked in, and he was. The bars themselves were covered in rust but surprisingly sturdy. Perhaps if he'd picked the Warrior as his starting class his strength would have been enough to rip the bars from the stone wall. As he was, magic would be his only option if he needed to break out.
Before resorting to the arcane, Merrick turned back to the rest of his cell. A jail cell was not a common place to start a game as an adventurer nowadays but if there was one thing he'd learned from all his time playing these games is that there is always a way out for those who look closely. The straw mattress was the only physical item in the cell, supposedly it was his bed. Merrick took a moment to lay down on the mattress and look up toward the ceiling.
A message popped up:
Resting has commenced. Recovery rate for health and energy increased by 300%. If logged out in this position, recovery will continue at the normal rate until logged back in but if offline for more than six hours of real-world time, the Well-Rested status modifier will be granted for twenty four hours of in-game time.
Merrick swiped the notification away. It was interesting but resting would not help him get any further right now. His elbow against something when he dropped it back to the mattress. It was a journal that had been tucked underneath. As he pulled it out, the system notified that he had found a class item.
The journal itself was nothing special. It was made of stressed leather with a locking tab to hold it close. There was no title or markings on the exterior. After releasing the tab, Merrick opened it up half-expecting it to be completely blank. He was mostly correct.
The first ten pages of the journal were filled with the neat handwriting of system generated text. Supposedly, this was not Merrick's own journal to start, but the journal of an unnamed fellow mage that had helped Merrick reach this dungeon. The first few pages were filled with notes about elemental spells, they all seemed experimental or theoretical at best.
One outlined how to cast a bolt of lightning, another detailed how to summon a minor earth elemental called a Dust Mephit, and then there were half finished explanations about various magical natures. Merrick assumed these were his starting spells and that the journal would function as a spellbook where he could store more.
Beyond the experimental scribbles, there was a short section devoted to something called: The Elemental Cage. At first Merrick thought it would be another spell, based on the name, but as he read more it seemed that was the name of the dungeon he was in.
Apparently the Elemental Cage exists on a floating continent called Atborea and it houses all magical criminals from the continent. It is a highly secured underground prison complex which has supposedly never been allowed a single escape. The Warden of the Prison is a Pure Lightning Elemental and the only way to escape is to climb the prison tower to reach the exit.
Merrick let out a heavy sigh and rested the journal on his chest. The game could not have given him an easy first dungeon to breeze through before unlocking the rest of the content, could it? He had thought this would be the real tutorial as an Adventurer but now he was wondering how long he would be in this first dungeon.
It also seemed like the dungeon he had loaded into was managed by the system itself, rather than another player who had opted for the Guardian experience. Either that or he had been dropped into the dungeon of a well established Guardian right off the bat… as a low level Adventurer.
Picking the book back up, Merrick skipped to the last written page. Unlike the others this was written in what looked exactly like his own handwriting. The game must've pulled something from his console's cached memory to generate this. At the top of the page were the words: Gate to Cage.
Beneath the page's title was an ornate seal written in blood, presumably his. As his fingers hovered over the seal, Merrick expected a system notification to explain what would happen if he activated it. His best guess was that it was how his character ended up in this cell, by means of teleportation, and to test that he pressed his thumb into the center of the seal.
The blood drawn seal lit up with a faint blue light as Merrick's equilibrium was thrown for a loop. He was suddenly standing just feet from where he had been laying down. The journal was still in his hand, the faint blue light was fading from the seal, and now the system notification arrived.
Gate to Cage unlocked. Seal can be activated at will to return to the starting position of the Elemental Cage. Upon death or loss of consciousness you will be returned to this starting position. Depending on the factors of your return, negative status modifiers may be applied.
After closing the notification, Merrick tucked the journal away and went back to searching his cell. There had to be a false panel or hidden cache of some kind to reward intrepid players that did not want to simply blast their way out of their cell. No matter how well hidden, Merrick resolved himself to find it. It only took thirty minutes of pressing against every stone block that made up the floor and walls of his cell.
The last block he pushed wiggled slightly and that was more leeway than any of the others. When he pulled on its edges, rather than the whole block coming loose, the front came off to reveal that the block had been hollowed out. Inside there was a sheathed dagger, two vials of amber liquid, and a key as rusty as the door to his cell.
It was not much in the way of Starter Gear, Merrick thought, but it was better than what he had before. After tucking the dagger into his belt and the vials into a pouch, Merrick replaced the hidden cache's stone face and walked to the cell's door with the key in hand. The key fit perfectly in the lock, but before Merrick could pull the door open, a notification popped up.
You found the key to your cell as well as a few other items. These items will be returned to your inventory in the case of your return to this cell. Once you pass through this door, be warned that the guards will treat you as if you are an inmate of the Elemental Cage and will try to apprehend or eliminate you. Upon your death or loss of consciousness, you will be returned to this cell.
Notification aside, Merrick pulled the door open and stepped into the hallway. Before he could get his bearings in the long hallway of cells, a loud mechanical voice filled the room:
Cell One Zero T has been opened.
Prisoner escaping.