It's been a month since the EcFi Halo and Augmented Stars came out. There's still another month until they release the first quests and monsters into the game. My town is still deserted. I wonder what it will be like once monsters start popping up. I have my default weapon and my lumberjack axes, but I don't have much else by way of fighting skills. I guess I could go punch a squirrel but that doesn't seem very sporting. Maybe it would unlock an animal abuse skill?
Yeah, that's horrible. I'm not gonna even try that.
While walking around my neighborhood I notice something different. A house I have passed several times before now has planters in the front yard. Each planter has a different plant in it. I have driven past the house in reality on my way to work and as of yesterday it didn't have those.
"Someone else in town has an EcFi Halo," I whisper to myself.
I head over to the house and look over the plants. A timer pops up on my HUD (aka Head's Up Display) saying when the different plants will produce things. The tomato plant is almost ready. It's at this point I realize I haven't tried to eat anything in the game. I don't have to. I haven't done anything to wear down my health. I look around the outside of the house and try the door. It's locked. I knock and get no answer. I ring the doorbell. Still no answer. There's no one in the back yard. When I'm about to leave I spot a ripe red tomato on the plant I had previously looked at. Whoever's at this house isn't logged in, or at least isn't in the area. I grab the tomato and inspect it.
>Achievement unlock skill Thief upgrade Level 3
The tomato tastes great. It's another thing I note: I can taste things in the game. How did they program that? I decide to leave the area to head back to my apartment. The plant should make more tomatoes. It's not like the other player is going to notice one was missing.
The next day I check the house again. I really wish there was someone I could play with in the game. There's still no one home, so I take another tomato and leave.
I've thought about stopping by the real house to ask if someone there plays the game but that would be super creepy so I don't.
My Thief skill doesn't advance anymore after taking the first tomato, yet still, I stop by on my walk in-game to steal a tomato. On the fifth day of doing so there's a sign stuck in the dirt next to the tomato plant.
"Whoever's stealing my tomatoes, STOP!"
I don't have anything I can write with but I find a stick, and write "sorry" in the dirt next to the tomato plant. The next day the sign has changed. It now has an arrow pointing to another, newer tomato plant.
"Tomato Thief, You can eat those tomatoes."
I take a tomato and write "Thnx" under the new plant before leaving again to continue on my walk.
Someone else in town is really playing Augmented Stars. We just don't log in at the same time and I talk to them through dirt and thievery. This game is weird. I love it.
Another week goes by with us continuing this routine. I read the message on the sign, respond by writing in the dirt, and leave with my tomato. The town is still deserted. The release date for quests and monsters is approaching, and I still don't have any fighting skills. I try running around with one of my axes to see if that unlocks anything and it doesn't. I suppose doing that is just part of the Lumberjack skill. I find myself wondering what I'm going to do if demons show up in the game. I think I can opt out of playing with monsters, but then it will just be more of this. Wandering around my town, exploring deserted yards, and stealing this stranger's tomatoes.
I reach the tomato house. The sign is missing, but I don't think much of it. Maybe the person isn't in town. I take my tomato and turn to leave.
"Got ya, Tomato Thief!"
I freeze. Before me stands another player. I had almost forgotten that Augmented Stars had non-human character options. I was too distracted making a variety of avatars for various gender expressions to even think about making an animal themed avatar.
"Hands up," the anthropomorphic light blue husky says while making a finger pistol and pointing at me.
I have no idea if this person has some sort of invisible gun they bought with real money or some weird magic furry finger pistol skill. The game is player versus player, or PVP, from the get go. You can fight one another even without there being monsters. I hang on to the tomato while putting my hands in the air.
"You've got, what, ten different skins?" the furry asks.
I nod. "More than ten."
The furry raises an eyebrow and then laughs. "Holy shit." They put out a hand for a shake. "Name's SparkleDog2020. You can call me Sparkle, or Spark, or Sparky, or, whatever."
I put my hands down before shaking their hand. "Fire Sign."
"Nice to finally find someone else in town playing this game."
"How did you know I had more than one avatar skin?" I ask.
SparkleDog2020 points behind me to the front porch of the house. "I got one of those video doorbells so I could figure out when you were logging in since we kept missing each other. Then you kept changing faces. I had to make sure all of them were you so I asked around. There are only four people in town with EcFi Halos, and only one lives near me."
"That is...kinda creepy."
SparkleDog2020 smiles. "Just some light hacking."
Comments (0)
See all