Though she was an elf and in a slightly idealized form, I recognized her immediately from the pictures we'd sent back and forth in the past months.
She was wearing a fitted doe-skin tunic that hung to just above her knees. She had cinched it around her waist with a green leather belt, from which dangled several pouches and a long, sheathed dagger. To protect her legs, she wore long leather boots with reenforced pads on the knees. When I saw her, she was looking the opposite way down Purgatorio, the main, bisecting road in Epic City, so she didn't see me walk up to her.
"Milady," I blustered, with a flourish and a deep bow, "your prince arrives."
She spun, recognized my voice, and tackled me with a big hug.
"You goof. I thought you were coming from Paladin Cathedral."
"That's what I thought, too, but for some reason I popped up in Saint Balefir, instead. Maybe it was because I'm on the east coast?"
"Maybe." She shrugged. "Anyway, I've got the whole day planned out. We're going to hike up to Elysium cliffs, watch the sun set, and come back to the Onyx Dragon tonight."
"You don't want to pick up any quests or anything first?" Typically, these massively multiplayer games were defined by the assignment and completion of tasks called quests. Completing more quests meant cooler gear, better skills, and fancier weapons.
"Well, if you want to, I guess we can. There's a guy at the fountain offering a reward for pelts. Maybe we'll find a few on the way?"
Susie liked solving puzzles and meeting people, but she tended to get bored with repetitive questing. If I wanted to hit the grind to quickly improve my character, I'd mostly be doing it alone. For now, though, I was happy just being with her and experiencing the game.
The badger man wore a motley tunic and hose with pointed leather shoes. His white wimple was sweat-dappled, covering the grey stubble on his head. Next to him was a wooden vendor's cart piled with furs.
"Badger pelts!" he bellowed, cupping his hand to his face. "Help Epic City stamp out the insidious and invasive rock badger. Do a good turn for the city."
"Er, excuse me," I said, approaching him. "how much are you paying for badger pelts?"
"20 gold a piece, my boy, and a fine price it is for doing one's civic duty. Will you help us exterminate this wily menace?"
