Umbra Online- Halgor's Horde

by K D Brand

  That sour thought in his head, he went to go back to killing raccoons to get his mind off it when a strange voice interrupted him.

  “Hi, handsome!”

  Ty froze and glanced over his shoulder. There, standing alongside Amon and Deven, was a young woman.

  A very attractive one.

  Ty swallowed hard at seeing her, realizing she was talking to him. The green tag above her head identified her as Bell. She waved at Ty once she had his attention, offering up a sly grin.

  “Uh…hi,” he stammered. His cheeks felt hot enough that a hobbit could throw a ring at them and make it melt.

  “I want to thank you for helping my father,” she said, still smiling. Her long, brunette tresses framed her face and curled in at her long neck. Bright blue eyes looked like lakes set above freckled cheeks.

  She ducked low to slip between the posts of the fence, seductively easing through.

  Ty stiffened—nearly in two different ways—as he noticed her loose-fitting shrift hung low, offering him a good look at every young boy’s favorite quest.

  “Ack!” he spit out, turning his gaze away, damn near giving himself whiplash in the process.

  Bell took her time straightening, easing her long legs through the fence, then strolled over to Ty. She set a warm hand on his shoulder and turned him toward him. Short as he was, his eyes lined up directly with her breasts.

  With a herculean effort, he peeled his gaze free of her chest and looked up to meet her eyes. She simply grinned, clearly reveling in his awkwardness. She wanted him to look, he realized.

  Which, of course, only made things more awkward.

  Bell pulled him in tight and gave him a hug. “You’re my hero,” she whispered, her breath warm on his ear.

  The feeling of her so close, pressed against him, stole the last of his composure, not that he’d had much to begin with.

  “I…uh…yeah…I…uh…you’re…uh…you know…uh…”

  “Might add a word or two into all that babbling, boy,” Deven told him, laughing all the while. “She’s gonna think you’re the village idiot you keep that up.”

  “She might not be wrong,” Amon added, grinning broadly.

  Before Ty could find his tongue to reply, which he thought he might have swallowed, she eased back a tiny bit and grabbed hold of his chin, lifting it to face her. He nearly drowned in her eyes.

  “Maybe…you know, after you help my father, maybe you could help me a little, too,” she told him, offering up a wink. “There’s a barn out back. I could meet you there after dark and…well, maybe I shouldn’t ruin the surprise just yet.” Bell leaned in and kissed him full on the lips, her hand cradling his neck and pulling him in.

  Ty’s head felt like a volcano ready to blow. Rigid as a plank, he just stood there until she peeled away, one of her hands trailing softly down his chest, fingernails just barely scraping against his armor before pulling back. Bell turned away from him slowly, making sure she had his full attention, then walked back toward the farmhouse. Her hips swayed like a serpent ready to strike, the super-tiny pair of shorts doing absolutely nothing to hide her impressive assets.

  “Sounds like you’ve got another castle to storm, boy,” Deven called out to him, laughing.

  Ty spotted Tolon in the background, glaring daggers at Ty.

  And that’s when it struck him what all that was.

  “Oh…fudge me,” he groaned, shaking his head.

  She’s a dang side-quest.

  Flustered, his cheeks still near-boiling, he groaned as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He’d damn near fallen for it. Bell was trouble walking. Gorgeous…warm…inviting trouble, to be sure, but still trouble.

  He waved to the farmer. “Don’t worry, Tolon!” he called out. “I won’t go anywhere near Bell, I promise.”

  +3 RP!

  Your reputation has increased for not taking advantage of the farmer’s daughter. This also means you don’t have to worry about being stuffed into a rabid raccoon’s hole when Tolon catches you with her.

  Ty chuckled at the notification.

  “You’ll never get to use your battering ram with siege skills like that, boy,” Deven said, shaking his head in obvious disappointment.

  Ty groaned and waved the man off, heading back to the fields. He needed something to take his mind off Bell, and avoiding the gnashing, foamy teeth of rabid raccoons was just the thing.

  Hours later, Ty gave in to boredom.

  He’d circled the fields over a hundred times, cutting down every raccoon he could find, and he had earned over 4,000 XP and collected nearly two hundred of the mangy hides.

  Fortunately, UO’s inventory system calculated weight based on types of items instead of their individual numbers. He’d stuffed all of the hides into his pack, and the system stacked them, basically only calculating the encumbrance of one so, despite how many he’d crammed in there, his pack was still essentially empty.

  He glanced over to the fence where Tolon stood, watching and waiting and still ranting at the raccoons darting back and forth across his fields despite how many Ty and the others had killed.

  The farmer was alone. The NPCs had given up about an hour in and had wandered off, telling Ty they’d meet him at the Shady Orchid later. And Bell, sweet, beautiful Bell, was likely in the barn, waiting for him…

  He shook that thought away before his imagination could run away with him, and he went over to talk to Tolon.

  Nothing like looking at an ugly old man to keep from wanting to roll in the hay with his gorgeous daughter.

  Ty sighed, once more forced to push aside the images flooding his brain. He dug inside his pack and pulled out ten of the hides he’d gathered, then handed them to the farmer.

  “Here you go, good sir,” he said as Tolon took them from him. “Your fields are clear of vermin.”

  Never mind the fact that frothing raccoons still flitted all around him in the background.

  “You did it!” Tolon shouted—which was only slightly different from his yell. “My fields are safe.”

  Success! You have completed the quest, Rabid Raccoon Rampage, and have saved Crescent Valley Fields from the infestation of rabid raccoons.

  Ty glanced over his shoulder and, even though he kind of expected it, seeing the fields suddenly green and burgeoning, not a torn leaf or rank raccoon to be seen anywhere, he was still stunned by the abrupt transformation.

  +1,000 XP!

  You have leveled! Congratulations! You are now level 4!

  +3 RP

  Your reputation has increased for saving Altunn’s food supply. You’re on the road to becoming an actual hero. Well, you’re really on a barely visible trail, on the way to a path that leads to the road of heroes, but you’re headed in the right direction, at least. Keep being you.

  Well, probably a better you.

  “Thank you,” Tolon said, shaking Ty’s hand so hard that bones ground together in his palm.

  Ty bit back a hiss when the man finally let go, and he shook his hand to chase away the tingling pins and needles there. “You’re welcome.”

  The farmer pulled out a small purse and passed it over to Ty. “In appreciation for your services, and more so for your lack of services where my daughter is concerned, I want you to have this.”

  Ty blushed. He’d half-contemplated swinging by the barn on his way back to the tavern, but the old man had effectively guilted him away from that now. He accepted the purse, feeling the coins inside.

  You have received 5 gold.

  Ty grinned. With the five gold and the money he’d make from selling the hides, he might actually be able to buy a weapon of his own and stop borrowing the NPCs’.

  He thanked Tolon and waved a goodbye as he started off toward town—purposely circling around the far side of the farm to avoid passing the barn.

  Much to his regret.

  Once he’d returned to Altunn’s streets, and he’d had a few moments to stretch his neck out after it cramping from repetitive, long
ing looks backward, he headed toward the shopping district.

  He swung past Char’s store, chuckling at the locked doors, and made his way to the next shop that was open: Maeve’s Merch.

  A small building set off at the far end of the main thoroughfare of town, nearer the gates than the Draken Mountains, traffic in the area was minimal. He strode across the porch, his every footstep thumping across the wood flooring, and went inside.

  Maeve greeted him immediately. “Hello, traveler. Come to buy or sell?”

  Ty took a second to let his vision adjust to the dim interior of the shop before replying. “Perhaps a little both, though selling first.”

  “Then come on up and show me what you’ve got.” Maeve grinned, her cheeks brightening.

  Around Deven’s age, the shopkeeper was a mass of rusty-red hair that offset the paleness of her skin. She wore a casual white shrift, which hung loosely over her shoulders, and thin, gold bracelets clattered at her wrists as he set her hands on the counter.

  Ty went over and pulled one of the mangy hides from his pack and laid it across the counter.

  Maeve gave a kind of half-sneer at it, sniffing the air. “This one’s a bit ripe, I’m thinking.”

  Ty chuckled. “Try lying underneath one of them.”

  “Uh…no thanks,” she said with a grin. “How much you want for it?”

  Knowing dang well his skill at negotiation would screw things up so bad that he’d end up paying Maeve to take the things off his hands, he deferred to her. “What will you give me for it?”

  He knew he’d potentially lose out on a few coins by letting her set the price, kind like telling a pawn shop owner to just give you whatever they think its worth, but he didn’t have a clue as to the value of the hides.

  Maeve hemmed and hawed, turning the hide over and looking at it from every angle, tugging at it and twisting it all around, before finally setting it back on the counter. “I’ll give you a silver for each hide.”

  Ty nodded appreciatively. That was more than he’d expected. “Deal!”

  He reached into his pack and pulled all of the hides out and thumped them onto the counter.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Maeve cried out. “That’s a hell of a hunk of hides. I can’t take that many, though, I’m afraid,” she told him as she rifled through the pile. “I can take one hundred of them today.”

  “That’s it?”

  She nodded. “Come back tomorrow, after I’ve had a chance to sell some of these, and then I can take another hundred from you.”

  Ty groaned. He’d forgotten that the starter shops had limitations on how many items a shop would buy from them in order to cut back on players grinding and building up their cash supplies too high for their level.

  It was the same reason the stores only sold lower-quality equipment. While a PC could grind their way up to level 5 really quick, they’d still be limited by the type of equipment available to them, keeping all the quests challenging. There was no way to blow through them or get assistance from higher level characters until they left the starter town. It was the programmers’ way of maintaining the balance of the early stages on the game.

  Ty sighed and nodded his agreement to her offer. “I’ll sell one hundred then, and I’ll come back tomorrow for the rest.”

  “You got yourself a deal then,” Maeve told him.

  She swept the hides off the counter and onto the floor by her feet. Then she rustled under the counter and pulled out a metal box with a large padlock on it. A key appeared, and she unlocked the box and pulled out a single gold coin to him. Ty took it grudgingly.

  You have received 1 gold.

  He stuffed the remainder of the hides back into his pack and took a moment to glance around the store. He spied a small section of weapons near the back and went over to examine them.

  Maeve carried a wide selection of weapons, but only a few catering to each class. There were maces and flails and halberds and a variety of swords, from short to long to two-handed. There was even a you’re-not-my-son-sword.

  He burped ugly as he thought of the weapon’s real name, placing hand over his mouth.

  Not even gonna think it, he thought, repeating it like a mantra.

  He skipped over the sword-that-will-not-be-named when a stylized nandao caught his eye. It was exactly the same style as the one he’d trained with at Morit’s, only nicer. It had some minor wear and tear across the blade, and a few unraveled threads on the decorated hilt, but nothing that would impact its effectiveness.

  “That’s a nice on, huh?” Maeve asked, startling him by appearing out of nowhere. “Was sold to me by a local rogue. Perhaps you’ve seen him, standing guard by their guild house? A surly half-orc? He looks like a brute, but he’s really more of a sharp-edged teddy bear.”

  Ty remembered the guy laughing at him when the draug confronted Ty. “Yeah…I know the guy.”

  “He can have that effect on folks,” Maeve laughed, recognizing Ty’s displeased demeanor. “Anyway, he sold me a quality sword. You thinking you want it?”

  Ty nodded. There was no thinking about it, but he didn’t want to seem too eager. “Maybe. Got a few dings,” he said, pointing to a slight imperfection that could hardly be called a ding. “How much you take for it?”

  “I’d let it go for three gold.”

  “Would you take two?” Ty countered.

  “I’d take four.” Maeve grinned slyly.

  “Three it is then,” Ty grumbled.

  Your attempt at bargaining has failed rather pitifully.

  I knew I wasted those points in Charm.

  He reluctantly dug the three coins out of his pocket and passed it over to Maeve, but he held them fast when she stuck her hand out.

  “Throw in a sheath?” Ty asked, offering up a wry grin.

  Maeve thought for a second, then nodded. “Sure, why not?”

  Ty dropped the coins into her palm. “You are a sweetheart.”

  “You already got the sheath, boy. No point in buttering the biscuit now,” she told him, a broad smile lighting up her face.

  “Now you’re making me hungry,” he complained as she pocketed the coins. “Oh! Speaking of hungry, do you have any rations I can purchase?”

  Maeve nodded. “Three silver for a week’s worth.”

  Ty grinned. “Then add them to the lot, please.”

  The shopkeeper went to the back for a moment, then came back and handed Ty a small bundle of rations. They looked about as appetizing as the brown paper wrapping they were stuffed in, but they would keep him from having to worry about hunger notifications for a while.

  After Ty stuck the rations in his backpack, he watched as Maeve snatched up the sword and passed it over to him. She slid a worn but sturdy sheath over a moment later.

  He lifted the sword and let loose a satisfied sigh at feeling its heft. It wasn’t super light, but it wasn’t overly heavy either. It felt comfortable, especially now that he’d bumped his strength a little during training.

  It’d feel even better when he went back and trained more, certain he’d add a point or two more to his strength if for no other reason than to cause more damage in combat.

  “This is perfect,” he crowed as he loosened the rope holding his armor on and used it as a makeshift belt to hang the sheath on. Once he adjusted all that, he slipped the blade into the sheath. It gave off a satisfying thunk as it slid home.

  Still too small for any of the armor Maeve had for sale, Ty thanked her and left, promising he’d return tomorrow with more hides.

  Once outside, he aimed his feet toward the Shady Orchid. He had points to spend at the trainers, but given that night had fallen while he was in Maeve’s shop, that’d have to wait until they were open in the morning.

  Still, he felt confident. With a brand-new sword that was all his and some coin in his pocket, he was ready to take on the world.

  Well, maybe just a small part of it, but he was ready, dang it!

  Fifteen

  Aggrobatic Ar
tifice

  JUST AS TY reached the tavern, the door flew open and slammed into the wall with a loud crash.

  Ty hissed and ducked behind the corner of the building as Vile One, Defiler’s friend stormed out onto the street. Vile One didn’t seem to notice him, or even look back. He marched awkwardly to the center of the road, then spun on his heel and shot off down the street without a word.

  Ty crept from the corner and went over to cast a furtive glance inside the Shady Orchid, the door still open and only starting to creep closed. He didn’t see any of the other jacktards, but he caught sight of Char and the others just inside. They stared after Vile One with annoyed expressions. Char brightened when she saw Ty, and she nudges Amon beside her. The three NPCs came out a moment later.

  “What was that all about?” Ty asked.

  Deven shrugged. “He’s been running in and up to his room above the tavern all night.”

  “Like clockwork, really,” Amon added. “It’s like, every hour he shows up, stomps up the stairs, fiddles with the door to his room, goes inside, then comes stomping out, slamming doors behind him.”

  Ty glanced off down the road to where Vile One was still visible, still matching on until he veered off stiffly and disappeared down a side road.

  “He’s been doing this all night?” Ty asked, his brain whirling.

  Char nodded. “All damn night.”

  A subtle grin twisted Ty’s lips at hearing that. “Come on,” he told them, waving the party on. “I want to check something out.” He took off down the road.

  Following, Amon grunted. “You’re following him? I thought you were trying to avoid these guys.”

  “Normally, yeah, I would be,” Ty shot back. “I really don’t want to get into it with them. They’re a bunch of bullies who outnumber and outpower me. But this…this is different.”

  “What do you mean?” Char asked.

  “I’m not sure I can explain it, and I’m not even a hundred percent sure anyway, but that’s why I want to follow him. If he’s doing what I think he is…”

  “Which is?” Amon pressed.

  Ty grinned. “Doing something very, very stupid,” he answered, chuckling. Then his eyes shot wide. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He slid Amon’s sword free of the rope and passed it back to the man. “Thanks for letting me use it, but I’ve finally got my own now.”