by Troy Osgood
Cursing, he vowed to pay more attention to every detail now. Replacing the javelin back in the holder, Hall started walking again.
There was a lot more to get used to now.
CHAPTER FOUR
He tried to move quietly, from tree to tree, avoiding the many sticks and leaves on the ground, but animals still ran before he neared them. Rabbits, squirrels, and birds along with random deer. His new Stealth Skill helped a bit but not enough. The first time he had actively tried to move quietly, the prompt had appeared for the Skill. He was gaining slowly, only having gotten .3 total in gains.
Hall headed toward the river, remembering that was where the wolves had been. He was glad that his first starting experience had been in Cumberland. It had been years, but he still remembered most of the island’s layout.
Thinking about it, he brought up the local map. It only showed the areas he had been, everything else not revealed. He had hoped that the whole map would have been shown, he had been through all this before, but no such luck.
Distances seemed greater. He remembered the walk from Grayhold to the shores of Green Flow River as only taking about fifteen minutes in game time, much less once he had received his first horse. He had been walking for over an hour now and was still a good distance away.
If the distance from Grayhold to the river was now any indication, it would take days of walking to get to Land’s Edge Port. Maybe a full week or more.
That was crazy to contemplate.
Was a month even a concept anymore? A day?
A sound off to the side pushed the thoughts from his mind. There was a rustling in the bushes to his right followed by a low growling.
He turned, holding his spear in both hands.
The wolf stepped out, growling deep in its throat. The animal’s coat was a light brown. It stood about three feet off the ground, heavily muscled. Blood coated its long fangs.
It took one step toward Hall.
Circling him, Hall pivoted and watched the wolf warily.
It was not behaving as it should have been. The wolf was an aggressive monster; it should have instantly attacked him the second he stepped into its aggro range. Instead, it was almost stalking him, waiting for him to make the first move.
AGGRESSIVE GREEN FLOW FOREST WOLF
The animal’s name was in Blue. He had expected as much. It was a quest mob, after all. It put the animal at least one level ahead of his level one. The creature’s level should have shown, and he didn’t get an Identify gain, which told him he needed the Skill higher to get even that much information about the Wolf.
“Come on,” he said, tired of waiting.
Answering him, the wolf crouched low and leaped high into the air.
Hall leaned back, stabbing up with his spear. He missed and pivoted to the side, avoiding the landing of the heavy wolf. He swung out with the weapon, catching the wolf on the side. The red bar above the animal’s head diminished. It gave a yelp and snapped at him, growling.
Using his Leap ability, he jumped into the air. Pointing the spear straight down, he slammed into the wolf. The tip of his weapon skewered the animal, pinning it to the ground. Letting go of the weapon, he pushed off and landed a couple feet to the side of the wolf.
It turned and tried to rush him, unable to do so. Its life blood dripped out onto the ground, growling and whining in pain, the spear sticking out of its back. Hall drew his javelin and advanced on the wolf, which was now mad with pain and bloodlust.
Hall stabbed out with the short javelin into the wolf’s throat. It gave one last whimper and lay still.
Messages popped up in front of him, translucent and foggy until he concentrated on each.
SLAIN: Aggressive Green Flow Forest Wolf
+30 Experience
Skill Gain!
Polearms Rank 2 +.1
WOLVES OUTSIDE THE HOLD
Kill Green Flow Wolf 1/8
Each faded after he read them.
The dead wolf was held upright by the spear. The head sagged, blood still dripping from the wound in the neck and chest. Putting his foot against the wolf, Hall pulled on the spear. It was a struggle, fighting against the wolf’s legs that would not bend, but he got the weapon out, and the animal fell to the side.
There was no glow from the corpse.
No loot.
Or was there? Hall thought, setting his spear on the ground and crouching next to the wolf. He pulled out his dagger, making a mental note to get a true skinning knife at the first opportunity, and started to carve the wolf’s hide.
Success!
You have skinned: Tattered Wolf Fur
Skill Gain!
Skinning Rank 2 +.3
Skill Gain!
Survival Rank 2 +.2
Like the deer hide, the wolf’s came off cleanly. He had taken his time and done it with more care, and somehow that had earned him an extra point in the skill. Standing up, he stuffed the piece of fur into his pouch.
One wolf down, seven more to go.
Spear in hand, he continued his walk toward the river. He kept his eyes moving, watching the bushes and the trees, listening for anything that would indicate another wolf was stalking him. As his eyes scanned the ground and the bushes, things started to jump out at him.
They weren’t shining or glittering, and none had a large arrow pointing at them; but some of the plants stood out. It was odd, Hall thought, as he stopped and crouched down next to one. It was green like the others, nothing overtly different, but it just called to him.
So, that’s how it works now, he thought as he recognized the plant as a Sagegrass.
The plant, long green fronds with sharp edges tinged in yellow, was useful in numerous recipes. Herbalists were able to gather it and sell for use in alchemical recipes. When trained, players had a Herbology skill that would provide markers for various plants to find. Now, it appeared that they would just find them naturally.
Reaching down, he grabbed it by the roots and pulled.
Success!
You have harvested: Sagegrass Pieces
Skill Gain!
Herbology, Rank 2 +.2
Sighing, Hall dropped the useless pieces of Sagegrass to the ground. He wondered how many times he’d have to try to dig up a plant before getting something useful. Looking around on the ground, trying to find more, something else caught his eye.
Barely noticeable under a bush, he could see what looked like an imprint in the ground. Bending down, he saw that it was a track. Crouching next to the print, he ran his fingers over it, tracing the shape.
A wolf print.
Success!
You have discovered a track: Wolf
Skill Gain!
Tracking Rank 1 +.1
Another new skill. Unlike Survival, this one was pretty easy to understand. It would probably come in handy.
Listening, trying to make sure he was alone, Hall pulled up his skills menu. It was organized in four parts; Combat, Magic, Professions, and Character, or roleplay as the gamers called it. The last was where the skills that helped round out a Character were put; the immersion skills, the ones that didn’t add to the fighting or magical strength of the character but added to the role-play elements.
There was a fifth section now.
Environment.
And Character was now called Activity.
What did that even mean? he thought but filed the it away for later. Right now, he had a quest to finish. Mentally closing the Skills Menu, he started looking for the next track.
Pushing aside the lower branches, he saw another print not far away. Looking around, he found a couple more, not as deep as they were on harder ground. Hall moved forward, following the tracks. They turned toward the east, away from where he had been walking, away from the river. Looking through the trees, he thought he could see some hills in the distance.
He saw more plants along the way as he walked but avoided them, focused on the quests. It had been years since he had done these starting quests,
and he couldn’t remember if this was the way to the wolves or not. Something about it seemed off. He could have sworn that most of the wolves for the quest were closer the river.
Shrugging, he followed the tracks.
It took over an hour of slow going, stopping, and making sure he was still on the trail, as well as listening for wolves or other threats in the bushes. His tracking skill was low but gaining. He had lost the trail a couple of times, having to backtrack and find it again, but was making progress.
Slow progress.
He was getting tired. Concentrating on the tracks and on his surroundings was wearing him out. The sky was also getting darker. Night was falling. He looked up at the sun, trying to gauge the height and how long before full night fell, but the branches were too thick to get a good look. Not a big deal, he thought as he continued to track the wolves. The night cycle in the game didn’t amount to much. Just darker, but still able to see. It wouldn’t hinder his progress.
The developers had talked about making the night cycle into a true cycle. Shops would close, and it would get too dark to see. But there had been a lot of backlash from the players who didn’t want to be limited to just the daylight hours for adventuring as most of them did their playing at evening in their respective time zones which could be day or night in the game.
Another hour later, Hall found that another thing was different.
True night was falling.
The ambient light was gone, the sun setting with the thick canopy of trees, making the ground impossible to see. Dark shadows on darker shadows. With his meager Tracking skill there was no way he could still follow the tracks. He could barely see the world around him, the stars and moon blocked by the thick canopy of trees
But as he concentrated, trying to make out the various objects around him, some started to come into focus. There was more definition. Not just black on black but shades of gray. He heard a noise, a squirrel chattering in the trees, and looked that way. He easily saw the little creature in branches high up in an oak tree, close to the trunk. The shadows were thick and he saw the squirrel as shades of gray, different from the rest of the night. He saw it as just shades standing out from those around it, giving it some definition and basic shape. There were limited details, just enough to know it was a squirrel.
It was odd, he thought, turning around and taking it all in.
Congratulations!
You have unlocked Racial Ability: Limited Night Vision
A new Racial Ability?
Sky Realms Online had a mixture of races that players could choose from. There were the basic Humans with a couple of subraces; Arashi, Gael, and Nord. Playable Elves were similar to the more traditional elves from other fantasy games and books, but wilder and less civilized. Dwarves lived in their mountain homes, again similar to the traditional Dwarf. Bodins had a sophisticated culture, living in neat little homes in the sides of hills, about the same size as dwarves but not as stocky, combining features of Humans and Elves. And then there were the Firbolgs. Tall, strong, covered in a light fur. Each race had a set of racial abilities that helped define that race and set it apart from the others. Mostly, those racial abilities were focused around benefits to skills. Bodins got a bonus to Intelligence while Elves got a bonus to Agility. Not great bonuses, but enough for min/maxers to have specific races for their perfect character builds.
When the game had launched, Electronic Storm had created two additional races for beta testers and early players. Half-Elf and Norn. There was nothing special about the races; they had the same starting Attribute bonuses as Humans and Bodins for game purposes. It was just a way for the betas to proclaim their status. Other games had given special titles or cloaks, Electronic Storm had gone one better with Sky Realms Online.
Until the non-betas and late coming min/maxers complained. They were stuck with Bodins over Norns for the race with the best stats for Shamans or Witches. In response, the developers had buffed the Bodin race to make it more enticing.
For the players like Hall, it was all cosmetic. Until now, apparently, as it seemed he was getting a benefit of being a Half-Elf character.
Even with the vision he was not able to follow the tracks of the wolves.
He looked back the way he had come. It was a dark tunnel between the darker shadows of the trees. It would be difficult and even slower going. Opening the map, he studied the distance between his location and Grayhold. Four or five hours of normal walking, he figured. He searched for the familiar clock that had been on the map, not finding it. Which meant he had no idea how late it was.
Feeling a pain in his stomach, Hall realized he was hungry.
Shelter and food.
Something he had never expected to need in the game.
He wished he had access to his Townstone. He could have returned to Grayhold for the night but the Stone only became available at level five and had an eight-hour cooldown. Useful for when you were Realms away from your Bind Point, not so useful when in the same Realm. Originally the Stones had a twenty-four-hour cooldown, forcing the players to ride or walk most places. It added to the immersion but players had complained, and the Stone had been nerfed down to eight hours.
Making the map disappear, he retraced his steps. There was a cluster of boulders that he had passed about ten minutes ago. That could serve as shelter for the night.
It took twenty minutes to find it, and Hall was starting to fear he had gone the wrong direction and gotten lost. The night vision was useful, but the lack of detail was hard to get used to. Most things looked similar, especially in a forest. But he found it. Three large and two small boulders nestled together with a small opening on the side.
Approaching it slowly, he tapped his spear against the side. It made a solid hit, echoing through the night. Nothing seemed to move from within so Hall deemed it safe enough. A slight wind had picked up, and the rocks blocked it.
“This will work,” he muttered to himself, already wishing he was back in Grayhold and the Inn.
Now for food.
He thought it safe to assume that his Vitality and possibly his Health would go down if he didn’t eat.
The nocturnal sounds had picked up. More and more animals waking up for their evening. He crept out from the boulders and listened. It was too dark to try to find nuts or berries, and meat would require a fire, which he thought he could make. But even if he could make a fire, it wouldn’t do any good without meat to cook.
A nice rabbit would do. Even a squirrel.
He could hear small animals moving in the underbrush. To the left, to the right, and then straight ahead.
Moving slowly, carefully, he shifted his spear and held it out at its full six-foot length. He moved a step at a time, pausing, another step. Hall crept closer to the bushes in front of him. He could see some of the leaves moving, rustling as something chewed on them from within the protective growth.
Hall could see the movement of the small animal within. Barely.
Taking a deep breath, Hall jabbed forward with his spear.
Luck was with him.
There was a small squeal that ended quickly.
Pulling the spear carefully out of the bushes, he saw a small rabbit stuck on the tip.
Setting it aside, he grabbed some small twigs and branches along with some thicker limbs. With an armful and the spear held awkwardly, he returned to the boulder pile. Laying the spear against the rock, he arranged his wood into a small pile. Adding some leaves from the ground, he drew his dagger.
He struck the side of the dagger with a rock. Small sparks flew off the steel, falling onto the leaves and twigs. He kept at it, throwing more sparks onto the pile. A small wisp of smoke curled up from the pile, an orange glow around the edges of a leaf.
Leaning down, Hall carefully blew on it. A little bit at a time, causing the spark to grow. The smoke got thicker, the orange glowed a little brighter. Slowly, with great care, Hall started the fire. He sat back and watched the small flames, feeding some twigs in
to the fire, satisfied with the result.
Success!
You have created: campfire
Skill Gain!
Survival Rank 2 +.2
“Just like camping as a kid,” he said quietly, watching the flames hungrily consume the wood.
Taking the dagger, he started carving a point onto a long and thin stick. Satisfied, he pulled the rabbit from the spear. The fire didn’t provide much light to see by but holding the small rabbit close to the flames he was able to pull away the animal’s hide.
Success!
You have skinned: Tattered Rabbit Pelt
Skill Gain!
Skinning Rank 2 +.2
The pelt was small, only a couple inches long and wide, but Hall stuffed it into his pouch anyway. Starting out he had no items, now he had four. Not a bad first day, he laughed to himself.
Pushing the sharpened stick through the rabbit, he held it over the flames. Holding it close to the fire, which he had to keep feeding wood onto, he turned the rabbit around trying to cook it evenly. He had no idea how to tell when it was done. There would be some risk to eating it, but he knew he needed to.
Without knowing how long it had been, Hall decided he was hungry enough to eat it. Holding the charred rabbit close, he took a bite. Grease ran down his chin, and the taste was more burnt than meat but it was food.
Quickly, he ate as much of the small rabbit as he could. It wasn’t much, biting bone more often than meat. Turning the rabbit around, using the fire to examine it, he thought he’d gotten as much from it as he could.