by M E Robinson
[Smithsalt22] Holy crap a Hurricane employee responded to my topic? Thanks for making such an awesome game dude. I know I’m complaining but me and my friends are all having a blast so far. I’m glad to hear we should be able to all play together soon!
[462813813] Still stupid we can’t play together right away. This better not affect our chances in the Championship.
The thread continued from there, with players both praising Fate and lambasting Hurricane for separating players. Closing the scroll, Eric opened the other top thread, a new scroll unfurling itself to reveal the thread on skill acquisition. Perusing the replies, it was evident that those who had earned new active skills were in the minority. Most had no new skills since the tutorial, with the majority of those who had created new skills having gotten passive skills like Eric’s Basic Evasion. Active skills were much more rare, with roughly one in a hundred posters having earned one within the first few hours of Fate’s launch.
The thread seemed to corroborate his and his friends’ experience. Those who had taken the initiative to seek out stronger monsters or more dangerous situations reported higher skill acquisition rates as well as better experience gain for their existing skills. It seemed that experience wasn’t gained simply by killing monsters, but through some formula based on the number of monsters, the threat posed by the monsters, and the number of times a player repeated the same action. A player that continuously used a stabbing motion to defeat wolves reported that he’d gained the Straight Thrust skill. While a player who had focused purely on bashing monsters who got close with his shield, had learned the Shield Bash skill.
The most interesting information, however, was that there seemed to be skillbooks that allowed a player to directly learn a skill. These were fairly rare so far and only common skills such as Pommel Strike and Shield Bash had been discovered by players. I wonder if there’s a downside to using a skillbook? Eric mused as he looked at the picture a user had posted of a small grey booklet, the cover embroidered with the image of a shield and bearing the title: Shield Bash.
From what he could gather, many of the users on the forums were low level, with skill proficiencies hovering between Beginner 3 and Beginner 8. His Beginner 9 Basic Archery and his creation of an active skill had definitely set him apart for now. But that lead would disappear quickly if he didn’t continue to play. There was also no information on combination skills. Either no one had successfully created a combination skill yet, or those who had were keeping the information to themselves. For now, it seemed that creating a guild would remain on hold for his group as they continued to look for ways to create a rare combination skill.
Closing the forums, Eric stretched languidly, arching his back like a cat and stretching his arms above his head. It seemed he would definitely need to venture further into the forest this time. Demonic rabbits alone were not going to allow him to learn new skills or surpass Jun. Looking at the gently pulsing Fate logo on the wall, Eric raised his arm, “Fate start!” he yelled.
Just like before, the rings quickly began to spin before blurring together, the glowing runes melding into a single multicoloured light. As the brilliance began to overwhelm him, the rings expanded and enveloped his body. This time there was no dark room with various versions of himself, only the soft light of day shining down upon the dirt road next to the militia barracks.
Looking around cautiously, Eric confirmed that the three dead musketeers were gone. Seeing no angry redhead howling for his head to be mounted on the village walls, he let out a sigh of relief before continuing to the militia barracks.
Knocking on the door to the militia barracks, he quickly stood back, this time managing to avoid having Alistair’s face only inches from his own as the door whipped open.
“What do you want?” Alistair asked grumpily.
“I wanted to turn in some demonic rabbit pelts, as well as a few wolf pelts. And I wanted some information on the monsters in the forest,” Eric replied.
Glaring at him for a moment, Alistair turned and entered back inside the barracks.
“You coming or not? I ain't got all day,” he growled over his shoulder.
Hurrying inside, Eric was greeted with the sight of a spacious room. The floor was covered with tables, long wooden benches providing places for the militia members to convene meetings, listen to briefings, or just hang out. A large speaker’s stand stood tall at the end of the hall, clearly the place where Alistair would issue orders to the militia. Along the walls were those same gemstone torches that had been present in Chief Ironspear’s hall - the gemstones’ light causing shadows to flicker across the hall.
Walking past the speakers stand, Alistair led Eric through a small doorway at the end of the hall. Ducking slightly, Eric found himself in a small room. A large table occupied most of the space, with a map and several scrolls ordered neatly on its rough surface. A bookshelf stood behind the table, with more scrolls and a few small chests taking up the majority of its shelfspace.
Pulling out a chair, Alistair sat at the table. Extending his hand, he looked at Eric pointedly.
“Errrr,” Eric stuttered, confused by the man’s sudden actions.
“The pelts, boy. Isn’t that what ye came to hand in?” Alistair asked, rolling his eyes at Eric’s ineptitude.
“Ah, right,” Eric replied, quickly summoning the pelts from his inventory. With a thump, nearly four-hundred demonic rabbit pelts landed on the table, as well as three red-maned wolf pelts and one pelt that was slightly too burnt to make out.
Picking up one of the rabbit pelts, Alistair observed it for a moment. Nodding his head, he looked up at Eric. “Not bad, boy. The militia can purchase each rabbit pelt for two coppers each. The wolf pelts can go for 5 coppers. As for the burnt one it will only fetch you a single copper.”
Eric nodded, “That’s fine.”
Grabbing a key from his waist, Alistair fiddled with something just below the tabletop for a moment. With a loud click, a drawer sprang open, revealing a number of storage pouches. Grabbing one, Alistair swept all of the pelts towards the pouch, the pelts magically disappearing into the tiny storage pouch.
Depositing the pouch back inside the drawer, he locked it, turning around to press a different key against one of the chests on the bookshelf behind him. Looking closer at the chest, Eric could make out a trio of black gemstones near the clasp, identical to the gem on his storage pouch. Ignoring Eric’s curious gaze, Alistair opened the chest, grabbing a handful of coins before locking the chest and replacing the key at his waist.
“Here, the total is 792 copper Cirts for the rabbit pelts and another 16 Cirts for the wolf pelts. 808 in total. I’ll give ye six silver Sricks instead of 600 Cirts,” he said, tossing a pair of silver coins as well as several smaller copper coins on the table.
Picking them up, Eric noticed that embossed on the front of the coins was a picture of a regal looking woman, holding a scepter and a sword. On the opposite side of the Cirts, there was what appeared to be a runic formation, while on the Srick there was what appeared to be a unicorn. Putting the coins in his inventory, Eric looked back towards Alistair who was watching him with an impassive gaze.
“I was wondering if I could get some information on the nearby monsters. And if it would be possible to see a map of the surrounding area,” Eric asked.
“Monster habits have been shifting recently. I can only tell ye what you can expect, but not where to expect em. Their habitats are moving closer and closer to our village,” Alistair growled unhappily. He only seemed to have two modes of speech, Eric observed: an unhappy growling or an impassive monotone.
“What types of monsters should I expect to see nearby?” Eric asked.
“Until recently, it shoulda just been Demonic Rabbits and the occasional stray Red-maned Wolf. If you were really unlucky, ye’d find a small pack of wolves or perhaps a lone goblin. But nowadays, packs of red-maned wolves are the norm and even some variants have been seen. Goblin sightings have increased too, with mul
tiple tribes moving closer to the village. Fleeing the chaos up north no doubt.” Alistair spat as he said this last part. Eric was curious but didn’t press the man for information. After a brief moment, he resumed his speech.
“Orcs have been sighted too. And not ones associated with the kingdom such as the Whiteclaws or the Bloodspears. But tribes such as the Darkfire and the Swiftrazors. No encampments yet, but if they’re sending scouts, it means they’re preparing. Apart from that, there are also more monstrous beasts appearing. We lost Darren McDonaugh just last week to what appears to be a Swordclaw Lynx. Those don’t normally roam this far south either. They prefer the mountains. If ye run into that then ye best fight. ‘Cause you aint running,” Alistair warned him seriously.
Eric nodded seriously. It seemed that the woods were more dangerous than he’d thought. Villages clearly were the most dangerous of the three starting zones with all these monsters running around. Orcs sounded especially dangerous, and as a level 1, he did not like the sound of this Swordclaw Lynx.
“Is that all?”
“Ah one more thing, could I quickly see a map? My companions and I were separated on the way here,” Eric replied.
With an uncharacteristically understanding nod, Alistair pulled out a scroll from the pile on his desk, unfurling it to reveal a large map. The center of the map was dominated by a large forest, with a city made of golden spires sitting near the eastern part of the forest. A long coastline stretched from north to south, with small roads and paths extending from the city.
Pointing to an area north of the city, Alistair began to explain to Eric the local geography, pointing out the location of Tonbura village, the size of Stillwood Forest, and the locations of the three other villages his friends had landed at. From what he could see, it seemed that he’d landed at the centralmost village. Roughly an hour north of Rob, several hours south of Jun, Gio, and Ryan, and a few hours east of Mark and Griffin.
Looking at the map with a grin, Eric realized that his friends would have to meet up with him if they all wanted to meet up. Since they’d agreed to meet at the centermost village between them, that meant that Tonbura village would be their new base. And that meant that he didn’t need to waste time travelling but could instead focus on leveling.
Thanking Alistair, who brushed off his thanks as if annoyed by his gratitude, Eric took his leave of the barracks, cautiously searching the square for signs of that murderous party before slipping out of the barracks. Before he left the town he had one more task, to find better weapons!
- Chapter Twenty-Six -
Lose it all
Making his way back towards the smithy, Eric checked his quest log.
[Quest Log]
- Hunt monsters in the vicinity of Tonbura Village.
Reward: Increased favour with village residents. Pay based on monsters killed. Possibility to earn skills if degree of completion is high enough. (Part One - 21% Complete)
- Purchase a better weapon from Tom, the village blacksmith.
Reward: Better weapon. Increased favourability with Tom. ???
- Visit the Mage Academy in Filoketh.
Reward: Possible admission to the Mage Academy.
- Investigate the recent monster resurgence.
Reward: ???
- Help the militia clear out monsters moving south. Save militia members in trouble when possible.
Reward: Increased favour with the militia. Possible promotion.
Looking at his quests, Eric realized that there had been two major changes to his quest log. While he hadn’t completed any of his original quests yet, there was now a bar showing that he was 21% of the way done with his monster hunting quest. More importantly, there was a new quest to aid the militia, specifically in keeping the area safe. And this quest mentioned promotion, which most likely meant it was connected to the main quest in some way. Looks like talking to Alistair was worth it after all, Eric thought with a grin as he closed the quest log.
The smithy was nearly identical to how it had looked several hours earlier. Only now, there were many empty spots on the walls where weapons had once hung, and the barrel of spears was conspicuously empty, with only a few remaining bronze tipped spears leaning against the nearby wall.
“Back so soon?” Tom’s voice rang out as he emerged from behind the forge. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he looked at Eric’s figure, which was noticeably more disheveled than it had been when he’d left the smithy a few hours prior.
Embarrassed, Eric attempted to do a quick patdown to remove the dust from his doublet. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the bloodstains or the hole on the shoulder.
“Haha yeah. I just got back from turning in the results of my first hunt to Alistair. I’ve got some silver now so I was hoping to pick up a slightly better weapon,” he explained.
Tom nodded understandingly, “Well I can’t really say the basic weapons we’ve been creating for militia members are pinnacles of modern weaponmaking. But do ye really have enough? A basic iron spear is at least five silver. And an iron sword is even more expensive. Even if yer skilled, that’s hundreds of rabbit pelts ye’ll need and ye’ve only been gone a few hours.”
“No need to worry about that, I had a streak of good luck while hunting,” Eric responded with a grin.
“Alright... “ Tom replied doubtfully. “What type of weapon will ye be having then? Seeing as how ye took a bow when ye came, will ye be wanting a better weapon for melee combat now?”
“Actually,” Eric began awkwardly, “I was hoping to ask you about the fletcher’s prices. This bow is alright for shooting if the target is literally right in front of me. But it becomes wildly inaccurate at distances more than a couple of meters.”
Tom looked at Eric strangely, “So ye only came to find out Craig’s prices?”
“Well that and I don’t actually know where to find him. I am looking to purchase a better melee weapon as well. I just wanted to make sure I have enough for a better bow first,” Eric explained hurriedly, raising his hands to show that he meant no offence. This appeared to have been the correct thing to say as Tom calmed down.
“Most of Craig’s works are pretty good. Thanks to the high standard of the wood from Stillwood Forest, his bows are considered some of the best in the area. But that also means they command a slightly heftier price tag than the average. If ye want a decent bow, then he’ll probably charge ye aboot six sricks.”
“What about arrows? I’ll be needing those as well. Most of my stone arrows have either been lost or destroyed already,” Eric explained.
“Arrows are a fair bit cheaper. Ye can buy twenty stone tipped arrows for roughly sixty copper cirts, or bronze for a silver. Iron will cost ye a fair bit more, especially considering the shortage. I’d imagine Craig’s gotta sell those for more than two and a half sricks given what I charged him for the arrowheads.”
“Alright, I’m off. I’ll be back soon if I still have some coin remaining, otherwise I’ll be back in a few hours,” Eric said with a smile, waving goodbye to Tom. Turning, he left the smithy, pausing a few steps from the entrance.
“Problem?” Tom asked questioningly.
“I uhhhh…still don’t know where Craig’s shop is,” Eric replied sheepishly.
Thanking Tom once more, Eric set off towards the east wall of the village. Following Tom’s directions, he soon found himself standing in front a two-story wooden house. Jutting out above the front entrance was a sign, emblazoned with a pair of crossed arrows. This looks like the place, Eric thought as he opened the door.
Entering the shop, Eric was greeted by a large room filled with barrels. Various bows lined the walls, unstrung bowstaves hanging from hooks on the wall. The barrels themselves were full of yet more bowstaves, while cases of arrows lay open in front of a counter. In the corner of the shop, a target hung against the wall - the many arrowholes left in its straw lining an indicator to the level of business this place received.
Behind the counter where the a
rrows lay sat a tall man with close cropped hair and a bored expression. Interestingly, Eric noted that this man did not have the fair complexion and lighter hair colour shared by most of the village residents he’d seen. Instead, he had light brown skin, with black hair and dark brown eyes. Eyes that were now staring at Eric with some interest.
“Welcome to my shop, I am Craig and this is Craig’s Archery Supplies. Are you an otherworlder?” Craig asked curiously, staring at Eric like he’d just discovered a new toy.
“Yup, I just arrived a few hours ago. Tom directed me here to purchase a better bow. The one I was supplied earlier just isn’t that great,” Eric said, placing his Rough Maple Shortbow on the counter.
Picking it up, Craig looked at the bow and laughed, “Yeah, we weren’t given much warning about the swell of new militia recruits we’d be receiving. We were forced to use older or defective products to meet demand.”
His voice had a slightly different accent than Tom’s. While it was still recognizably Tonburan, as Eric had taken to calling it, it was as if it was Tonburan being sung. With a faintly singsong quality to it, which in addition to Craig’s baritone voice made for a very charming combination.
Putting down the bow, Craig looked back at Eric, sizing him up, “You said you only arrived a few hours ago? Are you sure you can afford my wares?” he asked doubtfully.