The Doomed Memory of Tou Tou - Part 2

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

The search for Tsung started out as a massive scavenger hunt, spanning days. One clue would lead to another which would lead to another; all the while, pieces of the puzzle began to be filled in. I participated as much as I could, even finding a few of the pieces myself. Every night, we would meet back at the tavern, to discuss what we had found and any new leads.

Finally, we figured out what had happened. Tsung had been researching portal magic, desperately trying to find a way back to Ispar, his homeland. In his efforts, he was using lesser Shadows (an evil, phantom-like people) as test subjects. The more powerful Shadows did not think this was such a great idea. They found and captured Tsung while he was resting in Shoushi.

For revenge, the Shadows sentenced Tsung to the same fate as their brethren, he was put directly into portal space. Tsung was permanently "between portals", trapped seemingly forever.

In the candlelit upstairs room of the tavern, a plan was quickly hatched. When we set out from Tou Tou that night, it was dark and raining, a setting eerily matched by our own world, when I looked out the window of my room.

We traveled far into the Direlands, a place I had only explored once--before realizing it was much too dangerous to dwell in long. We were searching for a particular caste of Shadow, one in which would, upon death, open a portal to a bastion of the Shadows.

After an hour of scouring the land with search parties, the message of "found" was sent through the ranks of the Silver Citadel, along with map coordinates. We regrouped there and engaged our enemy who fell quickly to our numbers. Upon the death of one of the Shadows, a strange portal appeared (I learned later that this specific game mechanic was actually used for a different quest).

One by one, our group reassembled on the other side, weapons drawn. Shadows of every type and caste populated the dimly lit dungeon. We plowed through them like a flood of fire and steel. Not truly knowing what to look for, our fellowship wandered through the maze like halls until finally finding a small room. In the center was a small blue crystal being guarded by some particularly intimidating looking Shadows. Luckily they were no match for our group.

Finally, we were alone with what someone identified as a "portal crystal". Inscribed on it was a few phrases in a language I could not decipher. There were a few minutes of relative silence as we examined the quandary in front of us. Finally someone said, aloud, "Now what do we do?"

Immediately, an Unknown Voice whispered to me, "Who's there? Please help me!"

I realized everyone else must have heard the same whisper when a member of our group replied aloud, "Who are we speaking to? We represent the allegiance of the Silver Citadel. We're searching for a lost member by the name of Tsung."

The Unknown Voice responded quickly, "Hahah! My friends! You have found him! The portal stone that lies in front of you is the true cage that holds me within this portal space. I can only theorize that your close proximity is allowing our communication."

"How do we get you out of there?" a few of us asked, simultaneously.

"I can only assume by breaking the stone." the voice of Tsung continued, "It is my supreme hope that I survive such a shattering."

The pause that followed was most likely caused by another simultaneous thought we all had of "how the hell do we do that in the game?"

Finally, a clever mage by the name of Borls volunteered. He picked up the stone in front of us. An emote from him followed: "Borls takes the stone and with all his might, shatters it against the wall."

In truth, I think all of us were irrationally expecting something to happen visually. Instead, after a moment of silence, all of us received another message from Tsung:

"Ah... I think it worked! Portal space seems to be dissipating... Yes... I can see... Wait. This isn't right! Something is..."

More silence, as we wondered what had happened.

"Where did he go?" someone asked.

"He said portal space was dissolving, could it have dropped him somewhere?" another responded.

Borls again stepped forward. An emote from him followed: "Borls gathers the broken shards of the portal crystal."

"I have an idea," he said as he began casting a spell. Moments later, a humming blue portal appeared in front of him.

"This should be the place it dropped him," Borls explained to us all. "Everyone in!"

So on we went, through another mysterious gateway, not really knowing what was on the other side.

It was at this moment when the door of my room opened. It was my Mother and the time was 3:00AM.

Now, I've always been a pretty good debater/persuader, but I can think of no greater achievement than what I managed to pull off that night. I do not recall our exact conversation, only that come 3:15AM, I was still playing. At age fourteen. On a school night. Yes, I'm awesome. (Or at least my Mother is.)

When I came back to the game, I found myself in a dark, ominous cavern. Alone.

The group had gone on without me and I had no idea where I was. I drew my sword and board, chose a random tunnel and proceeded down it. It wasn't long before I began to hear a "chittering" noise that I didn't recognize at first, but the more I heard it, the more I felt as if I should know its origin.

As I rounded a corner, too quickly, I came face to face with a hulking bipedal mass of scary, scary death. An Olthoi. It let out an insect-like scream, half-chitter, half-roar.

It only took a few blows from its massive claws for me to realize I was far outmatched. I turned and ran. And ran and ran and ran.

Down another tunnel I found two more large Olthoi Soldiers who joined in the pursuit. Another tunnel, more soldiers. By the time I found my group, I was screaming. I had amassed quite the following of walking pincers. It was a long fight, but the group managed to squash each and every last enemy.

Someone asked, "Where the hell did all those come from?"

My embarrassment kept me silent. Luckily, we were off before any more questions were asked.

We searched each tunnel and cavern, until finally, we found a half naked man lying down near the edge of a pit.

It was Tsung.

Our group rushed over to him, calling his name. Slowly he rose, not quite sure what had happened.

"You have found me, my friends..." Tsung said. "I cannot put into words my gratitude."

One of the leaders of the group spoke up, "The Silver Citadel looks out for its own. Glad to see you back, Tsung."

"I'm happy to be out of that dreadful portal space," Tsung replied. "Now lets get out of here before the Olthoi show up!"

I gave Tsung a spare sword and shield, which he thanked me for. We made our way out of the lair, killing the swarms of Olthoi that poured out to meet us. Finally, the exit was in sight. A few of the stronger warriors stayed behind us as the rest of us left one by one.

Outside, we stood for a moment to catch our breath. Our long journey was over. Tsung was safe.

Soon, a portal to Tou Tou was summoned.

"To the Tavern!" someone cried as we piled in.

Before hopping in himself, Tsung sighed and muttered, "I hate portals..."

I followed the group through and we made our way back to Tou Tou Tavern.

There, we had an impromptu party. Someone spent a few thousand Pyreal on drinks and food, passing them out to everyone. Tsung told a more detailed story of what had happened and others joined in, telling their own mini-adventures that had occurred along the way.

It was then that I noticed my room was very well lit. The Sun had risen and I realized I had to be at the bus stop in a little less than an hour. Intelligently forgoing sleep for a shower, my eyes could only squint at the overly bright world.

At school, you wouldn't have guessed that I hadn't slept, from the way I fervently told and retold the story to my friends that shared my interest in the game.

It was a memorable moment in my gamer history; one that will be with me for a long time to come. Though, in truth, I have forgotten much of the journey and have only tried my best to reconstruct it here.

I do not remember if I took any screenshots or recorded any of what went on during the event. Regardless if I did, any file that was created is probably sitting on a burnt out hard drive somewhere, unreachable.

There's a lot of points I could make relating to this, but there's one in particular that sticks out:

We are doing our players a disservice.

Part 3

The Doomed Memory of Tou Tou - Part 1

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

It was the year 2000. I was fourteen and in junior high. When I wasn't trying to hold hands with girls, I was playing Perfect Dark at home. Or, more importantly, during those special times when my family could manage without our phone line for a few precious moments, I would connect to the magical world of Asheron's Call.

My character was not a powerful one, not by any means. It was my first MMO; every mechanic and statistic was bathed in mystery. The term "character template" was foreign to me. Instead, my attributes and skills consisted of whatever piqued my fancy at the time. War magic? That sounds cool. I bet it will go well with my sword skill...

I was a mess. But back then, it didn't matter. In those days, it was about discovery. Discovery and camaraderie.

I spent much of my time in a town called Tou Tou. (I never really learned the proper pronunciation, to me it was always homonymic to the pink, frilly thing.)

Tou Tou was a small village, off the beaten path. It sat upon a small peninsula near an ancient lighthouse that looked out over the pixely bay. The town was looked over by most, but on the Leafcull server, it was always populated. It was the official headquarters and home of the Silver Citadel, my guild (or rather, my "allegiance").

Any hour of the night, you could travel to the Tou Tou tavern, one of the first buildings on the way into town, and find a group chatting about the day's adventures. It was here that I stood, for hours on end. I do not recall how much of the conversation I contributed, nor do I know if I talked at all; rather much my time consisted of listening intently to the higher level players.

It was through such talk that I learned all about the land of Dereth and its inhabitants. Of the Lugian giants and the conniving Virindi. Here I first learned the name of the large insect-like creatures that I saw in the opening game cinematic, the ones that plagued the land. The Olthoi. From the tales told, it was probably a good thing that I had never come across one in person.

So there we sat, in Tou Tou tavern, the place we called home. Occasionally, when the fever of boredom took us, we would buy as many Small Beers as we could hold from the NPC barkeep downstairs, Mi Chi (who, unfortunately for her, got hit on a lot). She didn't talk much, but her pointy polygon boobs and size (literal) zero waist, kept us interested. After consuming copious amounts of (regrettably fake) alcohol, it would be time for the ceremonious mass suicide jump off of the aforementioned lighthouse.

During one of our calmer nights at the tavern, a hooded figure that I did not recognize walked upstairs to us. He stood for a moment, surveying, before asking, "is this the headquarters of the Silver Citadel?"

A few of us responded, asking if we could be of assistance.

"I found this note in the middle of the Direlands," he said, dropping the parchment in question on the floor. "Thought it might be of interest."

Everyone who was in the tavern walked over to examine the note. It read:

TO WHOM FINDS THIS, IT IS IMPERATIVE TO MY SURVIVAL FOR THIS NOTE TO BE DELIVERED TO THE SILVER CITADEL WHO RESIDE IN TOU TOU TAVERN.
FRIENDS, MY STUDIES HAVE DRAWN THE ATTEN--[the note is torn here, making most of the rest unreadable]
--EASE LEND YOUR ASSISTANCE. FIND MY JOURNAL. LEFT IN SHOUSHI. -TSUNG

I immediately recognized the name. Tsung was a regular in the tavern, though I did not know him personally.

The room was still for awhile, as everyone read the note a few times through. I wasn't quite sure what to think.

Finally, one of the higher-ups asked, "When's the last time someone saw Tsung?"

Again, silence.

"It has been at least a week or two." Someone said.

Another added, "That's not like him..."

"Shoushi isn't far, we should check it out," a leader declared.

And so began the journey to find Tsung. We set out immediately down the road, leaving the bearer of the message where he stood. At the time I felt like we should have probably given him something for his troubles, but I had little to offer. In hindsight, I realize now he and many others were all a part of the grandest of roleplays: a player quest.

Part 2