As I have only been in game for roughly 8 minutes compared to Sam's almost hour, I asked if he could guide me to some beginner quests to get a feel for things before being cannon fodder to an incoming raid party.
As expected, he had already completed the beginner questline to get to this place and was a level 8 barbarian to my level 1 adventurer. Sam's character did an eyeroll, no doubt because Sam himself did, but admitted that I'd likely be useless defending against the encroaching horde.
Sam guided me from NPC to NPC to gather quests, and I soon found myself skinning creatures and felling trees for firewood in excruciating and gory detail. Sam came to my aid a couple of times, as my class is meant to be modest across the board but not fantastic in any specific regard. His class however is built to front end things and... Sam was really getting into it... He would sprint ahead to taunt the enemies and back into where I was looting the last enemy. Sam was... really... getting into it using strings of expletives I didn't know he knew until now.
I had made it to level 6 and he had become level 10 because we were grouped and splitting XP. Granted, having a barbarian made us kill 4x the number of creatures we actually needed to due to his inexplicably constant use of his "taunting curse" ability drawing the attention of all nearby mobs and colorful use of curse words. I mean, who knew dire rats would be offended by calling their mother a fat feeder mouse, or, well, I'd rather not repeat all I heard...
But at level 6 I was invited to class quests and Sam wasn't welcome to join. The game removed me from party and transported me to a different area upon accepting the quest and I apologized to Sam confused. He reassured me that this was basic stuff and told me to finish my quest line and its totally worth doing but he's going to see if the raid is still happening.
I assured him that was fine and he blipped off my headset. Not 12 seconds later, mom came into my room demanding I help my father with some of the chores... they did, after all, just spend $80 to make me happy and deserved my assistance... With the heaviest of angsty sighs I could muster, I logged off and powered down the headset... planning to immediately return I left the bracelet on and ran to the garage to help my dad.
Reacclimating to reality gave my head a spin, but within a minute I was moving boxes and doing the nitty gritty peasant work my father asked of me... returning to my room an hour later I realized there was a small crack in my wristband and I was simultaneously filled with rage and shame... I had to make due otherwise my parents think me reckless, but my newest prized possession is injured...
With apprehension I logged back in... without issue. I let out a huge sigh of relief and was awash with a rush of unspent adrenaline. I continued my personal quest line being trained in swords, archery, stealth, sorcery, and surprisingly some crafting abilities, there was a whole dialogue minigame focused on my haggling skills making me talk to my empty bedroom... Each minigame lending a buff, and each buff seemed to reverberate throughout my body... by the time I finished my questline, I was level 9 and Sam had logged off but I could see he reached level 11...
It was nearly 10 and I had school tomorrow, so I turned the game off and got ready for bed. My reflection, as I was brushing my teeth seemed disturbingly short, flabby, and childish, but I dismissed it.
I didn't realize the inhibitor chip was broken and some character modifications were being applied as well as some of the mental changes intended to make me more accepting of the new world order about to be ushered in...others were being blocked but I wouldn't realize this till it was too late...