A Day in the Life of a Ssslik

I"ve spent the last couple weeks searching for a topic that needs to be explored. There's nothing. The only controversies are about dragons and if we should kill people for asking newbie or dead horse questions. Everything else is exactly like it was 4 months ago.

So, instead of tearing apart some important issue that divides the community, I'm just going to describe the ideal day in Istaria. This will be the game I want to play. These will be the things I want to do. I'd be happy to hear the different things you have in mind. In fact, send them in to me, and I'll write up the other opinions.

It's 6:00, I've just gotten home from work and had a small snack. I now have 3 or 4 hours to play Horizons before my wife has other plans for me. So, I sit down at the computer, make sure I'm all patched up, and prepare to log in.

The first screen is the character screen. It's an iconized list of all my characters from all the servers. I pick a character and the program knows what server that character is on. Today I'm using Komodo, a Ssslik from the city of Xaniss. Komodo likes to just hang out. He works for the blacksmith most the time, going to the mine where he can get a better deal on ore than the merchants in town. When I logged off last time he had just made several trips so he could get enough money to buy a feathered headdress to complete his outfit. My goal this time was show it off for a while at the tavern and then find a friend to go exploring an abandoned Lamurian outpost right off the coast.

So, I'm finally logged on. I put on the headdress and head out for the tavern. Just as I'm going in I see/hear someone say, "Psst, Hey lizard." I walk over to the dwarf that's standing by the door. "I need you to do something for me." First I ask it, "PC or NPC?" The answer is "I'm a dwarf!" That means it's a player character, NPC's don't understand what you're asking. After talking with the dwarf he wants me to get him a Lamurian gill sack. Dwarves can't swim well enough to get one, mostly the other races just pay the Ssslik to hunt for Lamurian artifacts. But, I'm not a hunter. I wouldn't be able to get him one, so I turn him down and go into the tavern.

In the bar, two of my buddies, a Ssslik named Iggy, and a human,who has been hanging out here for a few months, called "CrocHunter", shout at me and I go sit at the table with them. The headdress is cool enough, but now the style is metal skullcaps that you get from NPC gnomes. CrocHunter is going to get Iggy one, but I like my feathers for now. Other than that the tavern is pretty much dead today. I go check the job and announcement board, and it's all just the same childish spam. Since this is getting me nowhere I ask Iggy if he wants to go exploring. Turns out he's from Australia, and he has to go to school pretty soon. CrocHunter can't swim with me, so I go to the market and start recruiting a party over the auction channel.

The only person who answers is a newbie who hasn't worked on his swimming skill, so he can't come with me. I decide to just explore a safer area by myself. Since I'm in the market, I grab a couple 'rapid ascent' pouches so I can postpone coming up for air longer, and I run to the ocean. The safest way to this dungeon is through the newbie area, and then catch a ride on the North/South current. If I time it so I get off right before the reef there isn't much risk of running into any mobs. This dungeon is just a 'ship graveyard.' There are some fish, but nothing dangerous, and there is a random treasure spawn. Mostly it's just a gold coin or something else, not worth the 'rapid ascent' pouch, but the architecture is cool, and I like practicing my swimming skills doing a speed run through the coral formations.

However, this time something strange happens. As I come around the corner, I bump into a chest that has never been there before. It's too big to put in my inventory, and I can't open it underwater. It's a good thing I bought those extra pouches. I attach 2 of them to the chest and I activate them, then I use one myself. Just a couple seconds, and I"m back on the surface. I start swimming to shore, dragging the floating chest behind me hoping no sharks or worse, PC Lamurians, happen to swim past. I must be really lucky today because I make it safely to shore with my treasure. Inside the box is about as much gold as I'd get from 10 hours of hauling ore, and a magic sword. This is the first time a treasure this big has been found in that dungeon area. It'll be crowded for 2 weeks now, but I doubt anyone will find anything else.

After running back to the tavern, I show off the sword to CrocHunter and everyone else, leave a private message for Iggy letting him know what he missed, and then log off an hour early, because today was a good day.
- Marc Hawke