Gamelit 26 (verisimilitude) (Patreon)

            “Mom, you’re finally awake!”

            Amanda, shedding the blanket some centaur had put over her character’s sleeping form, said, “Finally? It’s barely eight in the morning!”

            “Woah, is it really eight? When did that happen.” Ah, she recognized that expression. The ‘oh no, I’ve revealed too much’ chagrin. That meant it was her cue…

            “Let me guess. You haven’t been to bed yet.”

            “Is this the part where you yell at me?”

            She snorted. “It’s summer, kiddo. Now’s the time to make unwise choices and learn why they’re unwise.” How lovely it was to be able to ‘dress’ for the day by dusting off her lower legs and making sure her permanent vest was right where she left it… which it was. “All right, I’m ready for adventure! What’s on the docket?”

            He brightened, ears almost trembling in excitement. “I’ve found the source of the water, and there’s a quest about it! You should come, we can do it together! It looks like it’ll be a big deal!”

            “Lead the way,” Amanda said.

            On the trip through the woods, Nick told her about what he’d learned so far, and there was a lot of it. “…so you see,” he said, “when the people came here with Donner, they disturbed the previous treaty made between the Cervinaethi and the Lord of the Forest, who was… kind of? A long lost relative, because the overgod of the world made both him and the goddess that the Cervinaethi now worship—they were brother and sister—but that was thousands of years ago and in that time the goddess chose to create a race of thinking beings and that turned her into this specific kind of goddess, which is separate from the old pantheon that ruled when there were no thinking beings. It’s a little like the titans and the Olympian gods—you know about that, right?”

            “Yes…”

            “Right, so, that’s why when the Cervinaethi moved into this part of the forest, it became necessary to make peace between the existing sprites and spirits, because it was kind of a family fight.” He sucked in a breath. “They lived together in harmony for hundreds of years before the Cervinaethi moved on, because they wanted to return to their original homeland, which was burned out by Magmataur—”

            “Wait, I can figure that out… he’s a centaur who’s on fire?”

            “Right, he’s actually a centaur who went bad, ate the flesh of a demon, and got consumed by fire spirits. That’s a separate thing, though. Back to Donner’s Beck. So the Cervinaethi are gone, and the forest is peaceful and empty of thinking beings, and then the humans showed up. Like I said, centuries ago! Humans have no idea about any of this history! And they start cutting down trees, and it upsets the forest, but they don’t have a relationship with the Lord of the Forest so they don’t know who to talk to to make it better. That’s why there are things in the forest that attack new players.”

            “I thought they attacked new players because they were bears and cats and whatever. You know, hungry?”

            “Even hungry cats and bears prefer to hunt smaller, more helpless things,” Nick said dismissively. “Anyway, it’s a pretty mild problem because it’s not like humans are clear-cutting the place. But it does make a difference, and it means the forest is slightly hostile. And one of the effects of that is that Donner’s beck is a beck and not a river. It used to be a river! I found that out when my racial, Ancestral Memories, triggered, and I got a cut scene about it! That river fed into that pond, which used to be a lake, and it could be a lake again, which would be great for the village. And also for Dad’s moat idea.”

            She thought she’d followed all of this, and tentatively offered, “So our job is to negotiate with the Lord of the Forest on behalf of the humans and centaurs of the village?”

            “You got it!” He grinned at her. “Nice going, Mom.” And then, “Wait, centaurs?”

            “The centaurs from the trading caravan said they were thinking of staying put, once the village is up again.”

            “That is so cool! Donner’s Beck has always been a small, human-only village. We might make a permanent change to the game!” He canted his head, then beamed. “Permanent for now, anyway, because what if everyone’s making changes like that? It could be really cool. One server could be really different from another….”

            “Now you really are leaving me behind.”

            “It’s fine,” he said. “You kept up with the important stuff, which was the lore. The story is so cool.”

            “I honestly didn’t expect there to be quite so much of it.”

            “No one would play for longer than a month or two if it didn’t have a story.” Nick pushed a branch out of the wall, revealing a lovely glade jammed up with rocks. A trickle of water flowed past them toward the streambed. “That’s the difference between a game like Omen Galaxica, that people play around the world for years, and… I don’t know. Jewel Crush.”

            “People around the world play Jewel Crush for years,” Amanda said.

            He wrinkled his nose. “I have no idea why. How many times can you line up gemstones in a row before you go crazy?” He spread his arms. “Look at this place! It’s beautiful! And there are reasons to do things!”

            “It is pretty….”

            He eyed her, then started climbing toward the top of the heap. “I expected you to like this part of it more. You always said stories were important.”

            “They are!” She had a look at the incline, then started up it carefully, taking the hand he offered her. “Thank you.”

            “Stories,” Nick quoted, “give you tools to handle your life. That’s why you should choose the stories you read carefully.”

            Amanda blinked at him. “You… even made that sound like me.”

            “You said it often enough that it’s burned into my brain. But really, Mom, look at the stories I pick. The ones that say ‘you matter’ and ‘you can conquer any challenge with enough time and determination’ and ‘you can be a hero’ and ‘you should dig deeper to learn the reasons for things.’ Isnt’ that good?”

            Stunned, Amanda said, “Yes!”

            “Then… why do you still have that ‘uncertain mom’ look you only trot out when you think I’m missing something?”

            Amanda wished Felix had been present to say something about the pun to lighten the mood. She followed her son to the top of the stones. “I don’t know what I think yet. Stories are important, and those are good lessons. It’s just that… what’s the incentive to leave this place to use those lessons in the real world, when this place feels so much more real? You’re not literally in a book or a movie they way you are in this place. It feels real.” She stopped. “That’s it, really. Spending effort to do things here feels real.”

            Nick shook his head. “I don’t see it that way. To me, reading a book is like thinking about doing something, while doing things here is like training to do that thing. The lessons get imprinted more powerfully.”

            “I hope you’re right,” she said. “So… what are we up to here?”