Assassinate – 19/100
Those numbers reflect a lot of work and several twenty percent resets as I’ve lost level one characters. Since I spend a lot of time in the lower levels, I decided to invest in this skill tree more than the rest. It seemed like a good idea to avoid getting killed by PK (Player Killer) players or high level mobs. At the same time, it allowed me to follow adventurers through dungeons to loot their trash mobs without being seen. Judge me if you like, but you do what you have to do when you’re as broke as I am. Walter White made meth, I loot merch. Which of us is the true criminal?
In any situation you can pull up the sub menus, and if you’re not in combat or under stress, the game will tell you the approximate percentage of success you have at pulling off each of these skills, whether you’re trying to assassinate an unsuspecting enemy or steal a potion from another player. But most of the time that’s all happening in the background and you just do what you can while you play the game. Most online games, but especially King’s League, still use the old roleplaying mechanics introduced decades ago by Gary Gygax. Who, along with Jim Ward, is a personal hero of mine.
Still, I’ve got some decent Skill Scores that I don’t want to drop another twenty percent. Especially my Merchant skillset. Even after last night’s death, I can still successfully low-ball NPC merchants if they happen to have something good and then sell it at a profit at the River Market. I need that edge so I can cash in the in-game currency for real-world cash.
Which is why I’m now running through the Grimpine Forest in the middle of the night cycle, trying my best to return safely to the inn in the nearby starting village of Wintersburg. Just out in the cold trying not to get myself killed. Sort of like Chicago in the winter. I’m keeping off the roads because there aren’t a lot of players with Guard Captain jobs this far out of town, and even fewer NPC guards to lend support if I’m overtaken by a Player Killer looking to score some easy XP.
I’ve considered becoming a Guard Captain on more than one occasion. It’s a popular specialization because it can bring you into contact with a lot of bandits, and you get an XP bonus when you kill them, along with some decent low level loot. It’s widely considered the fastest path to level up with before you hit level 20, but it comes with the disadvantage of having to work in-game shifts patrolling the city or the countryside while obeying the laws of the local lord. I’ve had friends go that route, but the whole lawful good knight has never really appealed to my personality.
I guess I just prefer to stay in the shadows.
There’s a soft rustling in a tree overhead, causing me to dodge to the right. I swiftly avoid a Barred Spider that drops down on its slender silk thread to try and ensnare me. I keep moving and soon outrun it, causing the spider to return to its hiding place for the next unsuspecting player. I could have taken that thing in a fight, but the miniscule XP isn’t worth the delay.
I fast tab to my stats, just to see where I am. 1921 XP out of 100,000. The spider only gives about 20 XP, like most of the trash mobs outside the city.
Over the crest of a hill, I can see the town walls of Wintersburg backlit by a swollen, full moon. Great. The last thing I need right now is a random encounter with a werewolf. I press on, wistfully moving across the path that leads to the cottage I used to own at the edge of a small set of alder trees.
It was a nice little place. Thatched roof and stone chimney. A charming, fairytale sort of house. I bought it when I was sixteen because it was cheaper in the long run than paying the weekly rate at an inn. Unfortunately, Brian lost our house—part of the reason we’re both level one again.
He thought it would be a good idea to rent out a room to a pair of tenth level Rogues. So, of course, they backstabbed us and stole our keys. The only saving grace was that I had cleaned out our treasure chests and stocked what I had at my stand on the River Market, which is thankfully safe from any plundering or other general mayhem. I also had some gold stored in the guild bank, which only Brian and I have access to, so at least we still had that.
Because of the real world importance of it, the cash that runs through the River Market is just too much for the game devs to allow theft or murder to take place in. It’s a perpetual safe zone no matter how much the hard-core players complain about the roleplaying aspect of the game and the authenticity of the experience. The economy in King’s League is too important. And it’s far and away better than what we’ve got in the real world.
Unless you’re a robot. Plenty of jobs for them.
I’m thinking about getting back on the road now that I’m within a mile of town. You travel faster and I’m feeling tired in real life as is. Wanna log off and get some sleep. But I see something metal glint in the darkness, further to my left. Maybe a hundred meters away from my current position. I follow it in the nighttime glimmer, knowing it’s taking me farther from the road.
Even though my level is low, I know this game better than most. This isn’t some Will-O-the-Wisp trying to lure me, that’s a different animation. It’s either a magical item, or some armor, jewels, or gold pieces shining under the moonlight. And I’m more than happy to collect any of them.
I can see that I’m approaching a corpse long before I arrive. As I grow closer, I begin to hear a squishing sound—like I’m walking on grass that has reached saturation.
No, wait. It isn’t grass.
A pool of thick liquid has spread across the ground. A quick glance to my feet reveals what appears to be blood. Limbs are scattered in the brush: an arm, a leg, and chunks of flesh. Whoever died here—they were ripped apart.
Now, I’m no fool. I mean, that’s debatable in the outside world, but in the game: no fool. I know I should probably just turn around and get the hell out of here while I still can, especially after what I said about the werewolves, but the corpse scattered across the blood-slicked meadow belonged to a player character. Way too much customization for an NPC.
Which means that it probably has something worth selling if I can find his loot bag. Which has to be somewhere because the way the guy was killed—at least I think it was a guy—wasn’t from another player. This is the work of one of the game’s nastier monsters. Maybe a werewolf, maybe a troll that wandered too far from a nearby cave. I don’t really want to find out which.
In full sneak, I follow the trail of gore until I locate the loot bag. Perfect. It hasn’t been touched yet.
A flush runs down my chest as the anticipation builds of what I might find. Depending on the loot, this could go a long way to getting Mister Mendoza off my back about the rent. He’s made it abundantly clear that it has to be on time this month. I’ve used up my second, third, fourth, and fifth chances with the guy.
I open up the bag and I’m beset by a list of items in the UI. There’s a wide assortment of weapons, though only one is magical, a +1 Dagger. Everything else is silver. Silver sword. Silver shield. Silver cross. Holy water. Fairy rope…
Yeah. This guy was a monster hunter. A dangerous occupation, but some of the highest XP quests involve freeing towns from vampires and werewolves. Lycanthrope teeth and claws are among the rarer spell and potion crafting components, so you can make some River Market earnings by farming the mobs, even at low levels. Same goes for a werewolf fur cape, because what self-respecting high-level barbarian wouldn’t want to wear one of those? They add a minimum of +1 to strength.