[Trelaboon]

I'll never forget the day I was introduced to EverQuest, I was spending the night at a friends house when he insisted I had to see this new game he had just bought. After watching him play for what seemed like an eternity, I decided to give this interesting new game a shot. I rolled a Human Warrior and soon set off on my journey into this new, unexplored and terrifying land. After nearly 4 hours of playing, I had finally reached the heroic level 3 and was prepared to move into the East Commonlands with my newbie sword, tunic and random cloth pieces to terrorize orcs, wolves and whatever else I may find. Another several hours and numerous deaths later, I was finally level 6; I felt like a true hero, nothing could touch me, I could do as I pleased, the creatures surrounding me were all cowering in my sight and I had my way with them whenever I pleased, that was, until......I decided to camp.

Caught up in this mystical world, I was finally broken from my trance as I heard my friends dad venture down into the basement. By this time, I had neglected my friend for nearly 7 hours, a teenage boy of only 15 had left the boring planet earth to join Norrath, and for the time, only that mattered. Furious that I had been on his computer, at his house, for nearly 7 hours, he insisted that I log off immediately, "Close down that game now and come upstairs, for the love of God!". Maybe he was right, perhaps it was time to log and try my hand at reality once more, so I did as I was instructed 7 hours earlier, entered the inn, clicked camp, and waited for the timer to tick down as I watched my character sway gently in his indian style seated position. "Orc stom, Orc kill, Orc weapons your blood will spill!" I WAS BEING ATTACKED...I had to stand up and defend myself, I couldn't camp with something on me, I knew that by now! After killing the Orc, I tried camping again, 15 seconds into the process, I heard the loud barking of a wolf and the cracking of my very bones, I WAS BEING ATTACKED....I had to stand up and defend myself, I couldn't camp with something on me, I knew that by now!

My friends father entered the computer room again, furious that I had denied his request for me to log and instead, heard me slaying Orcs and wolves. I tried defending my position, letting him know that you can't camp while being attacked, but alas, his foolish earthly understanding had no clue; still, I complied and agreed to camp. I clicked 'sit, camp' again, and waited patiently as the timer began to tick once again. 5 seconds left, my journey was coming to an end when I heard the familiar cackle of a skeleton who had seen his flesh covered victim, it was so real, I nearly felt his bony fist hit my skull! I WAS BEING ATTACKED...I had to stand up and defend myself, I couldn't camp with something on me, I knew that by now! So I stood back to my feet and began the battle with the familiar decaying skeleton that had been my enemy many times before.

By this time, if you hadn't guessed, my friends father was irate, he had no idea, the seriousness of this situation! This was war! Literally! A WAR! AND HE HAD NO CONCERN FOR MY LIVELY-HOOD! I angrily insisted there was NO WAY to camp while being attacked and tried to camp in front of him, of course, this process failed as yet another Orc stormed the doorway of the Inn and proceeded to make mincemeat of me. My friends dad was furious, even with him standing over my shoulder, I had appeared to disregard his wish and stood again to fight the devilish green beast. At this time, he reached to the computer, angrily hit the power button and stormed off....and at that very moment, my war in Norrath ended, just as quickly as it had started. The next time I logged on, I simply couldn't find that inn again, it might as well have been a 1000 mile forest with only one house in it, I swear, it didn't exist anymore, and I eventually determined that the things I once wore were no more. Looking back on it now, I realize the inn I was in, seems to be practically in plain sight, and that the middle of EC wasn't the best place to camp. I'll never forget the day my friends dad wanted to kill me over a game, or how terrible of a friend I was to my buddy for that whole day. 12 years later, and we're still friends, exploring the same world together as we did in 1999, thanks to a server, created by people who had a love for the game the same way we did.

Whether I win any of the plat matters not, i'm glad I get to read other peoples first experiences into EQ and will never forget my own! Happy hunting!!

Borion Winces
35 Shaman