Game of Humans
Chapter 4: Quests!
Disclaimer - Harry Potter, other characters and situations are owned by J.K. Rowling and her licensees. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.
Summary – Post DH. EWE. No slash. After dying at the end of Book 7, Harry Potter is invited to play a game. A game, where he is the main character. Video Game fic. Gamer!Harry.
Pairings – This story will have pairings. All suggestions are welcome. No slash request please. Personally, I am leaning towards HP/DG/FD.
Chapter 4 – Quests!
"Hoot"
The sound of hooting drew Harry's attention to his most loyal friend. Hedwig was same as he remembered her. Her amber eyes gazed at him with a kind of questioning look in them. Harry moved towards her cage and started patting her on her head and under her beak.
"It's good to see you again girl. I have really missed you over the last year", Harry said softly. He noticed floating text on top of Hedwig's head.
Hedwig
Harry's Pet
Common Pet
Level 7
Health: 200/200
The hint box appeared again –
-Pet Discovered
-Pet menu unlocked
Pets are companions to characters. Pets can be used for various purposes. Some pets may be assigned tasks like delivering mail, etc. while some pets are able to help their master's in fights. Such pets are called Battle Pets and have their own attributes and may also have some magical attacks. Taming of Higher level animals requires certain skill in [Beast mastery].
-Skill Discovered – [Beast mastery]
-Skill Level – 11/100
'Well, that's interesting. It would be cool to have such a battle pet', mused Harry. As if reading his thoughts Hedwig pecked his hand, looking quite indignant. Chuckling quietly Harry replied, "I didn't mean that having you is not cool Hedwig. But things like fighting are beneath you, girl, A majestic owl like you should not involve herself with these things." Hearing this Hedwig puffed-up and preened her feathers while Harry chuckled softly at his pet's vanity.
Crisis averted, Harry decided to step out and have a look around at all the changes. Leaving his room Harry proceeded down to the Living room. Vernon Dursley was sitting on the couch reading a newspaper. As with Hedwig text hovered over his head.
Vernon Dursley
Human Muggle
Level 30
Health: 1200/1200
In addition to the text, a Yellow Exclamation Mark floated above the text. The helpful pop-up appeared again –
-Quests Discovered
Quests provide the character with various missions that may or may not be related to the main plot. Each quest has a fixed reward associated with it. The player may collect the reward after successfully completing the entire quest. A quest may be accessed by talking to the quest giver. The player may accept or reject quests. Accepted quests can be reviewed using the quest menu by saying the command 'Quest'. A player may cancel any active quest from this menu before its completion. Cancelled quest may be re-accepted by talking to the same quest giver again. Quests can be of different types. Types of quests can be distinguished using the colour of the exclamation mark as follows
Red – Story Quest
Yellow – Side Quest
Blue – Repeatable Quest
Pink – Romantic Quest
All other quests except the Story Quests are optional. Story Quests are essential for the plot to move forward. The player may attempt these quest any time after it appears. But the plot will not move forward until the player completes any available Story Quest.
'What does it mean that the plot will not move forward before I complete the story quests? Does it mean that time will stop? I will have to see what happens if I ignore these quests', pondered Harry.
Saying Quest out loud, Harry was greeted with a new panel. The left hand side it seems listed all the active quests while the right hand side gave quest description. Only one quest was currently displayed. Kill Lord Voldemort. The right hand side had the name of the quest again at the top followed by 0/1 Lord Voldemort Slain. Below it was a description illustrating that due to the prophesy given by Trelawney, Harry Potter was tasked with killing Voldemort. It also went on to briefly describe interactions between Harry and Voldemort till date.
'Hmm, it seems there is no turning back from this prophesy', thought Harry when he saw that the Abandon Quest button was greyed out. 'Maybe, next time around, I can start the game before the prophesy is given'
'Let's see what these quests are all about. I wonder what kind of quest will Vernon give me', thinking this Harry moved towards his uncle. As soon as Harry reached Vernon, he looked up from his paper and ordered, "Boy, go prepare breakfast for everyone."
A new pop-up appeared in-front of Harry similar to the Quest menu –
Prepare Breakfast
-0/3 Breakfast prepared.
Required –
[Cooking] – Level 15
Cooking Recipe – English Breakfast
Reward –
[Cooking] +1
Experience - +10
Money - £2
Accept Quest? – Yes/No
'I don't know if I have the required skills as per the game, but I sure remember being able to prepare simple Breakfast from before. I really find it hard to believe that my Uncle will pay me to cook for them. Hmm, must be Game Mechanics. Let's see how this quest works. Also, I seriously need to find out what skills I have presently', thinking this, Harry accepted the quest.
Thinking that maybe the skills are listed on his character page, Harry opened it again. Sure enough, there were three new tabs had appeared there. In addition to Character Sheet and Reputation, Harry now also saw Pets, Skills and Currency.
Moving to the skills page, Harry saw that all of Harry's Hogwarts classes were listed as skills except Care had been replaced with Beast Mastery. Most of them were at level 11/100 with a few exceptions like DADA being at 15/100. In addition to the classes there were also other magic skills like Runes, Arithmancy, Occlumency, Legilimency, Soul magic, etc. All of these were at 0/100. In addition, there were other skills, like Cooking which was at 20/100, Flying which was at 87/100 as well as Swimming, Apparition, Portkey, Flooing, etc. which were mostly at 0/100.
'Damn! I had hoped that my skills from my previous life would have been carried forward, but it looks like I will have to learn them all over again,' thought Harry. Opening the Currency tab, Harry saw that there were presently two entries in it.
Pound £ 2
Galleon ₲ 10
A small information box at the bottom of the page informed Harry that the money from his Gringotts' Vault will only be accessible after he visits the bank at least once after starting a new game. It also told him that player may access any amount that is available to him at any time, even if the money is stored in the Vault. Harry could also convert Pounds to Galleons directly using the Currency Menu. The Pet menu just had Hedwig for now with her species and level mentioned.
Entering the kitchen and taking out the pan, Harry was greeted with another menu. This had a list of recipes on the left side as well as what seems like list of recipes that he knew how to prepare on the right side. Selecting the English breakfast one, Harry saw the list of ingredients at the bottom. Selecting the ingredients from the fridge, the ingredients disappeared from his hands while text popped up in front of him saying Items added to inventory. Opening his inventory, sure enough, Harry saw the ingredients neatly stacked indifferent slots. Going back to the cooking menu, Harry selected quantity of 3 and called out Create. In response, a Progress Bar appeared in front of him that quickly filled up three times and three breakfasts appeared on the dining table.
Going out towards Vernon, Harry saw that the yellow exclamation mark above his Uncle had been replaced by a Yellow Question mark. As soon as, Harry told his Uncle that the Breakfast was ready, a pop-up appeared telling him that the quest had been completed. Harry also received the quest Rewards at this time.
'Aah! so that's how quests work,' mused Harry.
Author's Note –
I have a question for the Readers. Till now I have been explaining the Game mechanics in detail. Moving forward, I was thinking of just expanding the plot while not fully explaining the game mechanics each time.
I would like to know if the readers, would like me to keep writing the game mechanics in detail or should I just stick to writing the plot while only explaining the mechanics where relevant. If you choose the second option then I will stick to writing more about the plot, while I will write how much each skill has increased or how much points Harry has for each abilities, it won't be the main focus of the story.
Waiting for your replies.
Reviews are greatly appreciated. Don't mind flames as well, so long as they are about the story and not the English.