Drainiverse Unplugged was the newest version of one of the
world’s most successful Massively Multiplayer Online games. The narrative had
begun in the late nineties as a text based Multi User Dungeon and because of
its steadily growing die hard fan base, had grown up over the years along with
rest of the MMO genre.
Drainiverse was a chaotic story by design. Aliens had
invaded earth in the distant future during a global war. The aliens made quick work of Earth and were
assured of their victory until a rebel group stole a device that under the
right conditions allowed a person to travel through time and space.
Humanity was not skilled with the device and the scientists that were left
weren’t given much time to explore the device.
The human rebellion leadership
decided to use the temporal flow adjuster without fully understanding how it
worked. Causing the past, the present, and the future of earth and several of
the closest alternate earths to be spun together like water funneling down a
drain. By the time the machine was shut off the damage had already been done.
There
were multiple earths with hundreds of thousands of years and alternate time
lines represented. There were now countless aliens, fantastic creatures,
incredible ancient ruins, futuristic cities and millions of secrets to uncover
and adventures to enjoy. With the launch of its fifth expansion new players were given several cosmetic items and character based bonuses to launch them into the newest content.
Yermum faded into the human starting zone. He moved around a
bit to get his bearings but finally made his way to Terry the first guide and
quest giver new players had the opportunity to interact with.
Terry was a cowboy with a goth steampunk vibe. He was
sitting in a rocking chair and drinking from a jug that had three x’s on the
side. “Hail and well met Yermum. Folks round these part’s call me Terry. And
let me tell you, those folks will be mighty glad to see a new Rain Bringer in
these troubled times. You see, this used to be a nice area filled with opportunity
for any enterprising adventurer. Now it’s been completely over run by thieves
and criminals. So if your looking for a job I’ve got one for you, that is, if you don’t
have any qualms with the idea of dispensing a little frontier justice.” Terry
finished his speech but just kept rocking his chair.
Yermum shrugged. “Sure why not.” He accepted.
Terry smiled and took another drink. “Fantastic, you bring
me six sets of thieves tools and I’ll give you your first honest day’s pay.”
Terry explained. Yermum ran off toward the first combat area where the thieves
spawned for new players to kill.
His starting weapon looked incredible. It was
a chain gun longer than he was tall, it had a rope of bullets that fed to a
satchel on his hip. He reached his first thief and pulled the trigger. He shot
a three round burst and each hit threw up a red “4” over the thief’s head.
Yermum
looked down at his weapon. “That’s it? He complained. Ugh, this gonna take
forever!” He continued to lure the thief NPC around the new player combat area
until the thief had taken enough damage to drop to it’s knees, groan loudly,
and die. Yermum looted the body and found his first set of thieves tools. “All
right, everything’s coming up Yermum.” He stashed the tools in his backpack.
When he had all six sets of tools he returned to Terry. Holding
the Tools out eagerly to trade. “Ok Terry, give me my money.” He demanded.
Terry smiled as he took the tools from Yermum. “Hail and
well met Yermum. Thank you for doing your part to clear our land of these
villains. Take this pistol as your reward.” Terry handed over an unimpressively
tiny, bland, gray pistol.
Terry took it in hand as one might pinch a dirty diaper
between two fingers. “I’m a Rain Bringer. I can’t use pistols.” He complained.
Terry nodded and kept rocking. “If you’re looking for more
work I heard Pratchet is looking for some brave adventurers.” He offered.
Yermum stuffed the unwanted pistol in his belt. “Does
Pratchet have class appropriate rewards?” He asked sarcastically.
Terry kept on rocking in his chair. “Hail and well met
Yermum! If your looking for –
“Never mind.” Yermum cut Terry off and headed in Pratchett’s
direction.
