Chapter Text
On paper, the online world simply known as ‘Planet Farm” or ‘The Farm’ by its inhabitants was a farming planet that grew a variety of specialized crops. One of many sent through the player markets for the players that enjoyed cooking weird and wacky dishes in the online multiverse.
On the down low, Planet Farm was also known by another name: The Roost. The Roost was a tribute to their Assassin heritage that the real-world compound located in Black Hills, South Dakota trained their people in. The skills transferred online so the Mentor, Desmond’s dear ol’ father, sent his Assassins on quests in the gameverse.
Desmond, being one of the compound’s most reluctant recruits, stuck to smaller missions. Stealing rare items and vehicles from players, minor hacks into people’s accounts, and grinding low-level quests repeatedly for the loot.
His ‘cell’, a group of Assassins, was one of the larger teams with a group of five. Clay Kaczmarek, a better hacker than Desmond who lived to hack deserving people and Robin Hood-ing their “unearned wealth”. Shaun Hastings, a British history nerd that assisted in keeping track of missions. Rebecca Crane, the tech expert that kept their gear running both in and out of game. And Lucy Stillman, the impromptu ‘leader’ that took missions alongside Desmond and Clay. She was the only one that responded to William Miles even if he tried to directly order Desmond.
Desmond had already been in the game for about four hours and was getting a little restless. He’d done his daily grinding missions for the very few xp and credits they granted. One of the missions was a simple harvesting quest to help out with the crop production while the other one involved a quest chain about a chicken escaping into the nearby woods and almost getting eaten by a wolf. The reward was twenty credits and a basket of eggs, which Desmond usually traded to the player ‘3lit3C00k” for an extra ration of food.
Every player was given three in-game food vouchers that they could redeem at the Farm Canteen, a small building with one player running the place. Depending on the day, each voucher got one different meal at certain hours. Most off-world players didn’t care about the vouchers since they could afford food elsewhere but Desmond was stuck on The Farm.
Both in game and out.
The extra food ration vouchers that Desmond traded for were being saved up, 50 at a time. He had only five more days to grind the daily egg quest before he could pay one of the transport pilots to let him stow along off-world while they went to the market with the monthly supply to sell.
Desmond didn’t have his own ship and missions were few and far in between. So Desmond saved and traded and stole what he could in order to go off-world and escape The Farm for a few hours.
Clay’s game avatar materialized next to him and grinned. “I don’t see why you never allow me to sneak you out. I’d do it for free.”
Desmond wiped his brow and sighed. “Because you’re 30 levels higher than me and we’d go to a planet where I’d get one-tapped and then we’d have to explain to William why I need the authorization code to make a new character.”
“I’d just drop you off at Eden! No one gets killed in Eden.” Clay replied with a shit-eating grin.
Desmond barked a laugh. “Hilarious.”
Eden was the first world created in the game universe and the spawn point for every new player. The city of Eden, a futuristic sprawling golden utopia, encompassed most of the planet. However there were players that ‘camped’ the spawn points and tricked new players into leaving the pvp-safe city into the wilderness where their buddies waited to kill the new players and scoop up the loot.
Even though players couldn’t be killed in pvp-safe zones, they could still be pickpocketed. And even though Desmond was a higher-level pickpocket than the rest of his team, he knew there were rumors of people that made their in-game living off of pickpocketing. Like the well-known La Volpe and his Thieves Guild, rumored to have maxed out their pickpocketing level.
Desmond carefully slid his hand into Clay’s pocket and activated the pickpocket mini game. He slipped his hand right out with the first unknown item he had selected, which was a throwing dagger.
You have successfully stolen from another player unawares! +10 XP to Pickpocket Skill
Desmond was level 30 so 10 XP was basically nothing to him, but he needed all the practice he could get. And Clay was too easy of a target to resist.
“Give it back,” Clay turned and snatched his dagger back. Desmond just smirked in return.
“See! Honestly you could probably rob anyone in Eden. You’d be fine.” Clay pressed.
Desmond rolled his eyes. “I’m level 7, Clay. I’ve been here for years and I’m only level 7.”
Missions given to teams were few and far in between, and Desmond’s reluctance to be his dad’s “perfect creation” definitely hindered his off-world leveling abilities. Where Lucy and Clay were in their late 20’s level-wise by now due to all the missions they were assigned, even Shaun and Rebecca had hit level 12 and 13 respectively. Both were of a high enough level to be assigned solo quests. Desmond was not.
Apparently William thought confining Desmond to The Farm would make him go stir-crazy enough to take on any mission William gave. However it had backfired on the old man and Desmond intended to keep it that way.
Clay turned to fully face Desmond and a stack of items appeared in his hand. Vouchers. Enough to get Desmond well past his 50 voucher goal.
Stunned, Desmond stared.
“The gang and I did some grinding for a bit. These should be enough to cover the trip tomorrow.” Clay passed him the vouchers.
20 Food Vouchers (The Farm) have been added to your inventory! Total: 75 Food Vouchers (The Farm)
20 days of work. All for him.
“Clay-“ Desmond felt the lump form in his throat.
Clay looked away, slightly embarrassed. “Don’t mention it. It’s your birthday after all.”
Holy shit Desmond had completely forgotten. The following day was indeed his birthday. In his musings, Desmond grabbed Clay’s wrist before it could snake inside of his pocket. “Nice try.”
/\ /\ /\
The next morning saw Desmond earlier than any of his teammates. He watched the sun crest over the forest’s treetops before entering his team’s designated link room. He powered on his link bed and slipped into it.
READY
PLAYER ONE
Desmond accepted the prompt and the world around him changed. Gone was the link room, now he was surrounded by blank wooden walls where he had logged out the day before. He rolled out of bed and headed to the trunk at the end of it.
Owner: Desmond Miles
Locked for: everyone
Desmond pulled out everything in his inventory and equipped it. His outfit slots automatically filled as he selected the pre-made outfit in his inventory. He equipped his Novice’s Blade as well as his Knife Bandolier, which held five normal metal knives. He was slightly jealous of Clay, who had a variety of knives coated in different poisons.
Upgrades were costly and all upgrades went though William first.
Desmond only had two other items to his name that he had managed to buy in other markets off-world. One of which being a Thief’s Cape that cost 5,000 coins and had drained Desmond of every coin and then some. And Desmond had bought a wooden, very lifelike statue of an eagle mid-dive. The NPC kid that sold it to him had bartered it for two pieces of Thick Leather that Desmond had obtained by hunting hippos for a quest. Desmond was pretty sure that the world had been inspired by Egypt, as he had seen some pyramids in the distance.
The final piece of Desmond’s ensemble was a leather satchel that had 15 inventory slots, doubling Desmond’s inventory to 30. The bag was of poorly-crafted quality and it very much showed, but Desmond only had level 3 in Crafting and the bag technically worked so it was good enough.
Desmond grabbed his vouchers and headed out the door to the large hanger that was about the length of a football field and held about 8 large cargo ships. He went up to The Falcon and waited for its pilot.
“Hello Desmond,” greeted a familiar face. Desmond passed the 50 vouchers without a response.
The pilot shrugged. “Hop aboard. In the back.” Desmond scowled at the reminder and headed into the cargo bay of the ship. It was full with labeled boxes and Desmond resisted the urge to go snooping. Merchants wouldn’t accept damaged or opened crates.
Desmond settled himself in between a few boxes and felt the ship move beneath him. He fell into a doze as the ship got into Lightspeed and shot through the galaxy.
Desmond nodded himself awake as he felt the ship land. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but he felt refreshed. He took a quick glance at his stats.
Desmond Miles
Level 7 Rouge
3100/7000 XP
Hunger: 65/100
Thirst: 45/100
Health: 500/500
Rest: 100/100
Ability points: 0
Power: 3
Agility: 6
Wit: 5
Constitution: 5
Magic: 0 MP (locked)
Skills:
Assassination - 8
Animals - 1
Archery - 3
Blade (short) - 10
Blade (long) - 12
Blade (throwable) - 11
Building - 4
Crafting - 3
Cooking - 4
Farming - 18
Foraging - 10
Hacking - 5
Parkour - 15
Pickpocketing - 30
Sneaking - 26
Theft - 25
Desmond’s stats definitely pointed him towards being a killer, but he tried to round that out as best he could at The Farm. He was sure his father was seething at his fourth highest stat being farming of all things.
The cargo door opened and Desmond hopped outside, looking around to get his bearings. It looked like they were in a village at the foot of a mountain. There was a large castle fortress nestled in the mountain.
“Go have your adventure.” The pilot chuckled and waved Desmond away.
Desmond walked through the village until he came to the trading stalls, each manned by an NPC. The NPCs in the game were very lifelike and reacted to the world around them almost humanly.
The merchants all shouted to be heard over each other, the shopping NPCs hemmed and hawed over wares, the people in the white robes just watched.
Desmond slipped away with a flock of people headed up the mountain holding woven baskets. He followed behind the crowd yet tried to move as if he were part of the crowd.
When they got to the large wooden gates of the castle, Desmond was surprised to find them opened. He turned around and saw the whole village below, including the cargo ship being unloaded.
Desmond heard the whistling right before the cargo ship was hit with a beam of fire from the sky. The people in the white robes milling about snapped into action, running for battle ships and scout ships, directing people to the castle to fortify, rushing around like a disturbed ant hill.
Desmond was swept inside the keep as NPCs and players alike ran for shelter. The destroyed cargo ship he had been on not even minutes prior burning a hole inside his mind.
Well fuck, Desmond thought. How am I supposed to sneak out now?
The white robed players had herded the NPCs and other player characters inside of the castle. Desmond watched a Scout-class ship take off from a hidden area near the back of the castle and a realization struck him.
Desmond pushed his way through the crowd, onto the wall of the castle. He snuck his way past what looked like to be a guard into a large hanger carved into the backside of the mountain. There! A handful of ships still sat in the hangar.
Three small Scout-class ships, tiny and maneuverable, sat in a cluster nearest Desmond. Each ship was outfitted with two different types of guns that could be switched with the press of a button. Each ship held a pilot and a connected co-pilot seat with a small area in the back for storage. Desmond bee-lined towards the ships.
The first ship, named War Hawk, was locked. It was a dark gray with brown accents. The second ship, named Master Eagle, was white with red accents. The third ship, brown with gold accents, was called Snake Charmer. Both War Hawk and Snake Charmer were locked, but to Desmond’s surprise (and relief), Master Eagle was unlocked.
Desmond hurried aboard and started the ship up. Either the pilot was very cocky as to think their ship wouldn’t get stolen, or Desmond got very lucky. Desmond settled into the pilot seat.
The display flashed on and the engine purred under Desmond’s fingers. The ship seemed well maintained.
Desmond pulled up the map on the screen in front of him. The planet was named Masayaf and there looked to be another planet close by named Alamut. The castle was Masayaf Keep with the little village at the foot being Masayaf Village. There were several spots marked on the planet as other villages or mines. Desmond ignored them and set the ship into Autopilot.
The radio crackled on. “Eagle, you are not authorized to fly! Repeat: Master Eagle, your ship is not authorized for flight!”
Desmond grabbed the comms. “Uhh I don’t know who Master Eagle is but I’m not them, I just need to get back home. Sorry!” In the stunned silence Desmond muted the radio and launched the ship into the atmosphere.
Once Desmond reached lightspeed, he engaged the thrusters and shot out of the airspace.
Desmond jolted as lightspeed wore off and he set the aircraft to Hover mode as he gazed out of the cockpit. Planet Masayaf was rocky and sand-colored, Desmond guessed a desert planet. He brought up the solar system map and plotted a course for The Farm before stopping.
No one knew where he was. He had his own (stolen) ship. Desmond could… go anywhere. Any solar system, any planet. He was free.
The vastness of the universe threatened to send Desmond reeling into a panic attack. He schooled his breathing and set course for a small space station that orbited the Vega Solar System, the current solar system that had about six planets including Masayaf and Alamut.
After putting the navigation system on autopilot, Desmond left the pilot’s seat and headed into the storage room. It was quite small with a bed nook, a locker, and a weapon rack. Desmond set his spawn with the bed nook and then opened the locker.
The locker was crammed full of items. Several repair parts for the ship, an entire month’s supply of food and water, even a Sturdy Backpack that provided 40 inventory slots. At the very bottom was an extra pair of white jet-boots, a white exo suit for space wear, and a white helmet with red accents. Desmond also found a stash of credits under the bed. 14,000 C, easily the most credits he had ever seen.
The weapons rack held a sniper rifle that swapped between energy bolts or regular bullets, two pistols that did the same, 25 throwing knives applied with paralysis, and an honest-to-glory sword with an eagle head pommel.
Greedily, Desmond stored everything in his new backpack. He scrolled through the locker, trying to see if he had missed anything. After confirming he hadn’t, Desmond spotted a green case above the locker. He tapped it and the inventory popped up in front of him.
Bandages, gloves, tweezers and more filled the medical case to max capacity. Desmond took the bandages, leaving the rest. He didn’t plan on needing them, even if the game’s healing path was very extensive.
Desmond settled back into the pilot’s seat and watched the stars around him. He had about fifteen minutes before he boarded at the space station. Every space station had a copy of the player’s hangar that was stored in the player’s console database so it could simply remake the hangar without any extra effort on the game server’s part.
As Desmond quickly approached the Vega Space Station, he slowed the ship down to a crawl and inched his way into Docking Bay A. There were a handful of players and dozens more NPCs around the space station but Desmond wasn’t worried about that. His new space suit covered him entirely and he had his backup Outfit stored in his inventory.
Achievement: A Gentleperson’s Closet
Have two or more Outfits prepared in your Inventory!
88.3% of Players have achieved this.
Desmond lowered the landing gear and parked the ship. He got out and headed for the elevator. The ship would be safe in his hangar and he had some things to sell.
Incoming call
The-hack3r-eagle
Desmond accepted the call. “Hey, Clay.”
“Holy shit you’re alive!” Clay burst out. “Look, where are you? I’ll come pick you up. Everyone’s going crazy, are you somewhere safe?”
“Slow down. Yes I’m safe, I’m in my PH. I was on a planet called Masayaf but I managed to nick a Scout and I’m at Vega Space Station.” Clay was oddly silent.
“Clay?” Desmond asked, feeling cold in his gut.
“Check the forum. I’ll wait.” Clay said.
Desmond pulled up the forum and noticed a new post right at the top.
SHIP STOLEN - REWARD: 2 ELITE ITEMS, 50,000 CREDITS
Posted by Eagle-of-Masayaf 20 minutes ago
My ship, Master Eagle, was stolen in the middle of a pirate attack on Planet Masayaf. The ship is a Scout class ship with custom paint. If found and returned, a reward of 2 Elite Items from Masayaf treasury and 50,000 credits will be given.
Any news on the whereabouts of the ship will also be rewarded with 1 Random Loot box and 20,000 credits.
Any news of the thief will be rewarded with 1 Rare Weapon and 35,000 Credits.
Signed,
Masyaf’s Eagle/Eagle-of-Masyaf
“Holy shit.” Desmond breathed. How rich was this guy? To offer not one but two Elite items. And a Rare weapon. And all that money. Desmond could buy his own plot of land with that much, cultivate it and do basically whatever he wanted…
Clay cleared his throat. “So I take it you’re the thief?”
“Uh, yeah. I needed to get out and it was unlocked.” Desmond admitted.
“Your dad is gonna blow a fuse.” Clay mused.
Desmond sucked in a breath. “Yep.”
“So are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Probably not.”
“Keep the ship and milk the guy for all he’s worth.”
“Clay-“
“Just think about it! He thinks pirates stole it, right? Why not keep it in your hanger for a few weeks, let him bump up the reward, then turn it in. Say you found it deserted somewhere.”
“How would a level 7 nobody just come across a ship that most of the player base is going to be hunting for?” Even as he spoke, Desmond started thinking of a plan.
“Someone crashed it onto a deserted planet or something? I dunno. Either way it’s either that or sell it and get yourself a new ship. I heard the Civilian line has a new ship for only 20k.” Clay suggested.
“No no, I’ll keep the ship.” Desmond said quickly. Clay’s plan was pretty good. And it wasn’t like Desmond could just give the ship back, then they’d know it was him that stole it.
Plus, the ship was his only way of freedom and Desmond wanted to get the most out of it before returning it.
Desmond went to the selling kiosk and browsed through his inventory and the ship’s inventory to see what to sell. The spare parts each were worth 2,000 credits so Desmond sold all five. He also sold the medical supplies for 500 credits, not including about half of the bandages. He sold one of the pistols for 1,800 credits and used that to buy more ammo for both his remaining guns.
His balance was now at 24,700 credits. Satisfied, Desmond closed the kiosk and wandered his way into the center of the space station. There was a small market in the middle area with an open tavern along the wall opposite the docking bay hallway. Desmond adjusted his helmet and sat at the bar.
The few players didn’t spare him a glance and the NPC working the bar was drying a glass. Desmond simply sat and watched the bartender.
Clay slid into the seat next to Desmond. “Can I see it?”
Desmond sighed. “Can I get a drink first?”
“Yeah, fine. Hey bartender! One Galaxy Supreme and one orange soda.” Clay slipped the bartender a tip.
“On its way.” The bartender turned and started pouring drinks.
“Nice suit by the way.” Clay elbowed Desmond in the side.
Desmond nodded along. Once the drinks were placed in front of him and Clay, they tapped their glasses. “To your newfound freedom.” Clay cheered.
Desmond sipped at the soda. +30 Thirst! Total: 55/100
“Does he know I’m off-world yet?” Desmond asked. Clay shook his head. “Not yet but he’s a bit busy trying to mobilize people to find the pirates that killed Griffon.” Desmond nodded and both men finished their drinks.
“So what’re you gonna do now?” Clay asked. Desmond hummed.
“Leveling up is one of my priorities,” Desmond said. “I should also find a place to lay low for a while.”
“Smart. Maybe you can set up a small base on some abandoned planet far away from people.” Clay suggested.
Desmond pulled up the map and examined Alamut. The planet looked similar to Masyaf except for a label underneath the name.
ABANDONED PLANET
Desmond grinned. “Hey Clay, how much do Land Deeds cost?”
“Depends on the planet.” Clay replied, spinning on his seat.
“What about an abandoned planet?” Desmond asked, already scouting the planet to find a landing site. There were a handful, all of which were labeled abandoned.
“Usually between 1k to 5k. Why- oh.” Clay grinned something with teeth.
“Mhm. They’ll already have looked at the neighboring planets within… what, a week?” Desmond guessed. “I could hide right under their noses.”
“I think you mean we could hide right under their noses.” Clay smirked.
Desmond nodded. “Shall we?” He stood and offered his arm to his best friend.
“Let’s.” Clay took his arm and led the way to the loading bays, allowing Desmond access to his personal hangar. Clay had two ships, a blue Scout class and a dark gray Raider class. The Raider class was bigger, enough for a team of five or six to live inside. Clay used it for raiding Abstergo, the greedy corporate entity that tried to pay-to-win the ‘verse.
Clay settled into his Scout ship and Desmond followed, taking the co-pilot’s seat. Clay jumped the ship into lightspeed and the ship warped through space, leaving the warp with Alamut in full view.
“Damn,” Clay muttered. “It ain’t like Monteggeroni but still amazing.”
The planet of Monteggeroni was where Clay had a villa in the capital city run by a mercenary named Mario Auditore. The Auditore clan held the Italia Solar system and it’s planets. There were rumors of other clans, like the Borgia clan, trying to usurp the Auditores but those rumors were never verified.
“So, where to?” Clay turned to look at Desmond. Desmond scanned the map of the planet and pointed to a small green dot that symbolized a town or village. “Let’s start there.”
Clay aligned his ship and began the descent to the village. As the village grew closer Desmond noticed it looked in poor condition, and there weren't very many people.
Clay activated the landing gear and landed carefully on the flat space outside of the village. Desmond hopped out of the ship. A small crowd of people had gathered to see the new arrivals. One of them, a woman with gray hair and a red cloak, stepped forward.
“Go back from where you came from, strangers. There is nothing here for you.” She said boldly.
Clay nudged Desmond. Desmond stepped forward. “We mean no trouble. I’m Desmond and this is Clay, we’re-“
“Didn’t you hear Roshan?” A tired man asked. “Go home. Outsiders bring nothing but trouble.”
Desmond squinted. This seemed like the beginning of a quest line. He did need levels, and this place was labeled abandoned, which meant there were no players.
“May we stay a few nights, at least? We can help with building or assisting in any tasks.” Desmond offered. The old man looked at Roshan, who seemed to consider his offer.
“Very well. You are not allowed to build within the village settlement, but outside is fair game. Come see me tomorrow at sunrise.” Roshan turned to leave.
“Wait!” Desmond called. “Has anyone else been here?”
A peculiar look crossed Roshan’s face. “A man, my apprentice. We gave him everything to escape this planet. He promised he would return for us.”
Quest started: Prodigal Son
Learn more about what happened to the last Player that lived here!
Quest started: A Village In Need
Ask Roshan what needs to be done around the village!
Desmond and Clay shared a glance. What in the world had they just stumbled into?