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THE OUTLAND 42
No, I'm not late. A rope was thrown over the rafters, two loops were tied on it, and Agnis hung in the resulting snare, barely touching the ground with her fingertips, even from here she seemed strange - pale, almost blue.“Child, are you ready for ascension?” The darkness behind her asked.The girl mumbled something without opening her mouth, then looked in my direction with eyesores - and exhaled, went limp.- Well, what are you doing. Thomas sighed, snapping his fingers. - This is the most common stasis, it is harmless. You won't flinch, will you?- I don't care. - The girl answered in a calm voice. The colors returned to her face, she breathed a little more freely.I was pierced by a premonition of inevitable disaster. But what could I do? If it wasn’t even Foma himself, but his deputy who coped with me so easily in a state of altered perception, then Foma, I think, is a total waste of time. Or snap your fingers.But if I catch him red-handed, I'll tell everyone about what he's do
THE OUTLAND 43
There was no need for the Church to forbid anyone to approach the remains of the sorcerer or to set up guards - the people in the village lived dark, ignorant, superstitious. Hmm, in fact, so ignorant that they were ready to sacrifice an innocent girl to the church. Also a good exchange for yourself - the headman's hand for the life of Agnis.But for them it was in the order of things, damn it! They themselves, no worse than anyone else, will forbid themselves and others to approach the remains - well, how can damage with an evil eye be transferred from a sorcerer to them? No, no one wants to.So, except for the corpses of the soldiers already cooling down, it was only me on the square - and I sat there for these few minutes, ready to jump out of the thick shadow, cut my throat with the edge of the sword! The only pillory I had for company was a lonely, empty and abandoned by everyone, sticking out an accusing finger from a thin layer of greasy ash. I don’t know what kind of wood and
THE OUTLAND 44
I walked along the road with a leisurely, measured step, not particularly in a hurry, but not very slowly either, and so far I had no idea where and why. The first item of the program, marked as "away from here" can only be done in this way. And as I wave at least five kilometers, it will be possible to think about future plans.Definitely, despite the fact that I received mostly negative emotions from the game, I still appreciated the scheme of interaction with the player. Why force players to once again kill thirty rats and bring tails, ask them to collect twenty stones on the field or pile up fifteen carrots and proudly call it a quest, if you can simply create a situation where the player will give himself a task! I remember this living statue, gray eyes and curls so well that I definitely will not forget why I am in this world. At the same time, there was an incentive to develop, to get to know this world, to become stronger. Of course, the desire to kill someone from any point
THE OUTLAND 45
I could hardly contain my laughter. If this is a robbery, then some very strange. But he could not find the archer, no matter how hard he tried - the foliage did not move anywhere, the branches did not crunch underfoot, and intuition seemed to fall asleep again. On the other hand, it seems that she could not find me either - the tree served as a reliable shelter, from which I was in no hurry to leave.“Listen, I have nothing for you to profit from, except for a gladius, rusty and terrible. I removed it from the corpse of the church guard, so you can't even sell it. - I decided to keep silent about the fifteen silver coins, I needed the stabilization fund now, oh how I needed it. “But if you want, we can continue to play sit-rounds. Are you in a hurry to get anywhere?- … Good. The archer agreed. I'm putting away my weapons. See the clearing on the left? Go out there, but look, without sudden movements.A subtle, scrupulous moment of mutual trust. Not that I was afraid - in extreme cas
THE OUTLAND 46
He did not bare his teeth at me, did not burn his eyes, driving me away from the territory, as a mother wolf could. No, this brute admired me with the reverence of a gourmet who is about to start a dish prepared by the best chef. I was definitely going to be devoured.“Good boy, good boy. I muttered, freezing in place. Maybe he will leave? Will it happen to me?The wolf lifted his upper lip, showing fangs the size of a finger.“I don’t offend you, you don’t offend me, okay? I put my hand on the hilt of the sword. “Let’s part ways, grey?”Death in transparent eyes answered me that no, we will not disperse. The top is having dinner today, and you are the main course.“Here, I’m leaving, everything’s fine.” All ho…” The grinning death threw itself in my direction with incredible speed, grinning, it seems, with a thousand teeth at once. Time stopped again, the hilt itself pushed into my palm, and the earth turned and rushed towards me. Somewhere in the middle of the roll, steel met flesh
THE OUTLAND 47
This slippery, unpleasant moment, haunting, is sure of any player with a level below the thirtieth. I'm talking about leaving the game. The fact is that traditional online gaming projects seem to freeze, stop for a while while the player is not in the world he creates. Everywhere this was played out in different ways - somewhere the character simply fell asleep, somewhere he went on a trip or hunting, somewhere else he was somehow removed from the general flow of life. Therefore, it always worked like this: you complete the game, find a safe place and return to your native gray boxes and urban poetry, and the character is waiting for you exactly in the place and in the state you left it. In Alien War, the developers approached the issue in a much more original way - and not least this is due to the difference in the perception of time, and therefore a much richer gaming experience. The character was not a dummy, a tabula rasa for the player to fill in, no - having a memory, including
THE OUTLAND 48
- I have no idea. I planned to settle down for the night, turn to the library in the morning, read a little ... I read, as you can see. Are you further into the caves now?- What? No. I removed the essence of filth from the wolf - this, of course, is not treasure from the caves, but the alchemists will pay very well for it. I'm sorry, but I'll keep the money for it as a fee for your salvation. She was clearly going to argue and prove something, but I just shrugged. I have not yet had to buy anything, so I have not yet understood the value of money. Simes's money should be enough for a room in the tavern and a library card, and I don't need anything else.- Thank you for looking after me. - I sincerely thanked you. — Where are you next? To the caves?— No. - Yolka snorted. “Perhaps I’ll take you to Askolta and see that you don’t get into trouble again. And then I'll think about it.But this was not very good. No, Yolka is helpful, caring, and when offline, even ... Ahem. In general, f
THE OUTLAND 49
I turned and grunted, looking at how a skeleton without a head, but with a good mace, hobbled in my direction. I think this one is good enough for crushing bones. All that was left was to pick it up. It also did not take much time and effort - the skeleton, which had lost coordination, crumbled again, as soon as it was cracked with a sword along the ridge properly.- Well, now let's fight! I weighed the morningstar in my hand. They won’t be able to swing for long, but now fast legs and a bit of luck are much more important than straight arms and strength. Even trophy weapons I no longer need to kill the undead (pun intended), but to clear a path- What we are going to do?- Breaking into the cemetery.- You're crazy. Yolka said with incomprehensible tenderness. "Why did I just contact you?"- Come on, let's go!- Don't fall behind! - Having dropped another zombie with an incendiary arrow, the archer went on the run and, dodging, ran, keeping between us and the skeletal artillery prot