by Troy Osgood
Henry sagged against the side of the small shack. He shook his head.
“Jacobs was a good man,” Henry said, looking up. “A good soldier.”
“We’re sorry for his loss,” Hall said, not understanding why he had said it. Henry nodded, seeming to appreciate the sentiment.
“Are there still Goblins to deal with?”
“No,” Hall replied. “We dealt with them along with their chief.”
QUEST COMPLETE!
You have informed Guard Captain Henry about the death of Scout Jacobs and the destruction of the Goblin raiders.
GOBLINS AMOK III
Reward: +1000 Essec Reputation, +50 Experience
Your reputation with Essec has changed.
You are now “KNOWN” and “FRIENDLY” in the kingdom of Essec and all areas it controls.
“That’s good to know,” Henry said, moving into the guard shack. He started digging around in a chest in the back, looking over his shoulder as he did. “How many were there?”
“Nine plus the chief,” Hall answered.
Henry paused, looking back at the two.
“Damn, I’m impressed,” Henry said and turned back to the chest.
You have earned +1000 Alliance points with Guard Captain Henry. You are now “FRIENDLY” by Guard Captain Henry.
He was impressed by your willingness to go into the unknown and face the Goblins, avenging Scout Jacobs.
Something else new, Hall thought, wondering what exactly it meant. Quest givers had never had that response before. He didn’t have time to think on it further as Henry stepped out of the shack carrying two items, a sword and a set of chainmail armor. He handed the sheathed sword to Hall and the armor to Roxhard.
“We can’t thank you enough for your help,” Henry said. “Those Goblins were a nuisance. They hadn’t killed anyone yet, except for Jacobs,” he paused, a sad look passing across his face, before continuing, “but had wounded many and stolen a lot.”
Hall drew the sword from the scabbard, which was plain and unadorned. The weapon didn’t look like much but the edge was sharp. A short, single-handed handle with heavy cross piece that was curved up. The blade was double edged, thick and a little under two feet in length.
“Were any of the stolen goods recoverable?” Henry asked.
Hall glanced at Roxhard, who had a slightly panicked look. With a sigh, Hall answered. Thoughts of the coins they would get drifted away. He was worried about having to return Pike and the Treasure Map.
“Yes, we have what could be salvaged.”
Henry looked at them, a hard look in his eye that quickly faded. He smiled.
“I wouldn’t sell them in town,” he said with a wink. “The merchants might still be here.”
Hall nodded, surprised. It was a good point, he thought, thanking Henry.
“You did the hard work,” the guard captain said. “Those merchants should have hired more mercenaries to protect their shipments.” There was a little bitterness in his voice, like he didn’t respect the merchants. “I’ll pass word to the other guard posts about you. They’ll be more receptive if you pass by. Might even be willing to give you some work.”
“We appreciate it,” Hall said, shaking the captain’s hand.
With a final wave, the two walked away and deeper into Grayhold.
“No selling?” Roxhard asked, a little disappointed.
“Let’s not risk it,” Hall said, assuming Henry had given the warning for specific reasons. He glanced up at the sky, glad that Pike had stayed outside the fort. “At least, not all of it.”
The dragonhawk would be very recognizable to the merchant that had been transporting him.
“Doesn’t give us much inventory space,” Roxhard grumbled.
Which was true. Their magical pouches had quickly filled up, and they had discovered that bags did not slot like before. Now they had to physically carry anything that did not fit into the pouch. Each had a backpack slung over a shoulder as well as pouches hanging across their bodies. Hall had returned the Treasure Map and its case into his magical pouch.
It was awkward as each also now carried their new gear as well.
“All that talk about not selling here felt like a quest prompt,” Roxhard commented, looking back over his shoulder toward the gate and Guard Captain Henry.
“Yeah,” Hall replied. “But with all the weird new reputation and alliance things that are popping up, not sure I want to risk a negative one.”
“Good point.”
There had not been any negative reputation quests before but nothing prevented them from being implemented.
“Can we stop at the bank?” Roxhard asked. “Want to drop off this ore.”
Hall nodded. He remembered Roxhard mentioning how the PCs had slept the first nights as he looked between the buildings into the small alleys. There were people there, not in all but in some. Only a handful.
Not all were PCs.
The difference was easy enough to see now. The PCs were dressed in starting gear, not dirty, but still recognizable. There were only a couple of them huddled in the corners of buildings. The NPCs were in a mixture of clothes. Rags, some decent. They were thinner, weaker looking. Had no life in their eyes. The PCs looked lost, but newly so, and confused. The NPCs were just lost and resigned to their lot in life.
“Were there always beggars?” Hall asked.
“Not sure,” Roxhard answered. “I don’t remember ever seeing any but not something I would have been looking for either.”
Hall understood what he meant. Even a game that had been as immersive as Sky Realms Online, there were elements of that immersion that got ignored as the players rushed to play the game.
It was odd seeing the homeless beggars. Why were they there? Grayhold was not a town, but a fort. Everyone there should have been working as a guard or in support of the guard functions. Being at the very south of Cumberland, there was not much trade coming out of the fort but a lot coming in. There were a few farms around so work should have been available.
They walked up the steps to the bank, passing by the guards and stepping inside. The building was solidly built, even more so than the town hall. The only building in Grayhold to be made completely of stone. Great square blocks fitted together. The inside was a wide-open space, with a large vault at the far end, six guards standing at attention in front of it. Along the sides were the Vaultkeepers, three to a side, each behind a counter and barred window.
None were occupied so they picked two at random.
Setting the packs down, Hall dug through them, trying to determine what to set in the vault. Did he need to hold onto the hides he had gathered? The herbs? He wasn’t sure what he was going to choose as his professions yet. Cartography sounded interesting but that would mean sacrificing a craft that could produce armor or weapons.
He wanted to see what the map led to before making any major decisions. Handing the hides over to the Vaultkeeper, a woman named Mara, he rearranged the contents of the packs. Did it make sense to keep everything on hand if they weren’t going to sell in Grayhold?
Some of it they did need to sell. So far there was only the fifty copper from killing the wolves. That wouldn’t go far. There would need to be repairs to the weapons and armor, lodging, and food at the Inn. He wanted to train in Small Blades and Triage, which would mean a supply of bandages. What would be the safest things to sell?
The cloth goods would be too noticeable, and he could use the wool for bandages, just leaving the silk to sell. The extras of the adventuring equipment wouldn’t fetch as good a price, but it would be easier to get rid of.
He could feel eyes on him and glanced over to see Roxhard studying what he was doing. The Dwarf was organizing the same as Hall was. Giving the silk goods to the Vaultkeeper, he managed to clear out one of the packs that he handed over as well.
Hall undid his belt and attached the scabbard of his new sword. He drew the sword and gave it a few practice swings. Excellent quality.
Sheathing the sword, Hall stepped over to the Dwarf and helped him out of the shirt. There were a couple links missing, tears in the armor. Hall knew his leather armor didn’t look much better. Roxhard picked up the new chain armor he had gotten as a reward. Much better quality, there were plates of iron attached to the shirt. He managed to pull it on.
“Not going to sell it?” Hall asked as Roxhard handed his old shirt to the Vaultkeeper.
“I like to keep some extra just in case.”
“Smart.”
Exiting the bank, they headed toward the General Goods store. The shelves of the store were fairly empty, random items stacked here and there. No dust. Behind the counter, in front of the door to the backroom, was the shopkeep. A portly man, bald headed with a ring of graying brown hair. His name was Jerrod.
“Good afternoon,” he said as they entered. “What can I help you with?”
“We have some items to sell,” Hall said and set the pack on the counter.
He pulled out the random extra gear they had gathered. Roxhard emptied his pack as well. A couple bedrolls, some rope and climbing equipment, flint and tinder, and a lantern.
The shopkeep looked the various items over, picking up some, examining them more closely. He turned a shrewd eye to Hall.
“There was a merchant here the day before last, said his wagon was raided by Goblins. Lost a good load of supplies. His list looked something like this,” Jerrod said, waving his hands over the items.
Hall waited, expressionless. He could see Roxhard’s features betraying them. The Dwarf looked worried, guilty.
Jerrod laughed.
“His loss, your gain,” the shopkeep said. “My gain as well. Now I don’t have to pay his fees for these items. Been a lot of interest in adventuring gear the last couple days,” he said and pointed toward his empty shelves. “This will sell right quick.”
They walked out with ten silver each. Not a fortune but enough to get them through the next couple days.
Next stop was the inn. The day was getting late, and they were hungry. Hall’s plan was to set out first thing in the morning for North Cumberland. A week or more of hard walking. They’d buy whatever additional supplies they would need, as well as some training. A good night’s rest and hearty meal were necessities before starting the journey.
The Laughing Horse was fairly empty. Almost the same dozen NPCs, workers getting a meal before heading home, as well as off duty soldiers. There were a couple of PCs, some he recognized from the first night. He searched their faces. No Sabine.
He wondered if she was okay. She had not returned his mail, and he had been too busy the last couple days to even think of her.
A single room for the night and two meals cost them about three silver. Worth it, Hall thought, as they ate large slabs of steak with bread, cheese, and ale. The food was good, the ale surprisingly so. Cumberland Dark. He’d never bothered with food or drink in the game before and was surprised how well it tasted and that it even had a taste at all. Had it always tasted this way? Not something he thought would have been programmed in. Why bother wasting bandwidth on the taste of food?
He was glad they had.
The last couple days, he hadn’t even noticed there had been a taste to the meat from the animals he had hunted. He’d just instinctively known he had to cook it. Raw food should not have made him sick in a game, but somehow, he knew it would. He had thought it a carryover from real life. Raw food was bad, everyone knew that. Now here, he had not even considered trying to eat anything raw.
He was happy knowing that food had a taste. It added another element to the game, this new life of his. And it was something he knew he would have missed eventually.
Conversations filled the inn’s common room. The NPCs were talking about crops, the strangely aggressive wolves and other mundane concerns. Hall found the PCs conversations much more interesting.
“Of course, I’m pissed. Wouldn’t you be? I chose Bodin because the racial bonuses and stats were perfect for the Shaman class. I never thought I’d be stuck like this or I would have chosen Elf or Human. I don’t want to be stuck this size.”
The speaker was a male Bodin. About four feet high, thin, with skin the color of dirt. He had large and pointed ears, green eyes with yellow irises, and long black hair. Bodin were plains dwellers, attuned to the magic of the world, basically looking like small crosses between Elves and Humans. This Bodin picked up his fork and buried his head in his food, eating away his misery. His companion, a Human Warden, laughed.
Hall shifted his focus to the next table over. A female Elf was talking with a female Human.
“I picked a female avatar 'cause I always played one. Figured if I was going to be staring at the backside of a character for hours, might as well be one I liked to look at. Right? But now I’m stuck as a woman?”
“I’m sure there are some lesbian players around that won’t care that you’re really a man. Or could just go with one of those new Ally NPCs. The new AI for them is off the charts.”
Hall wondered what they meant about new Ally NPCs. There were such in the game but they had fallen out of player’s favor a long time ago. Good for lower levels, but too much work to maintain at the higher levels.
There were two types of NPCs, Interactive and Stationary. The Stationary were the simple AI ones. Shopkeepers, innkeepers, the random people walking the streets. They had simple tasks, not much required in the way of interaction. They sold and bought items or just walked the streets. The same routines all the time. The other kind were more advanced. There were some that had simple interactions like quest givers. Then there were the ones that players could advance in relationships with. Performing tasks for these NPCs, through quests and other means, raised your level of alliance, and at higher levels there were rewards associated with the NPCs. There had been romance options, similar to some older single player RPGs, but most people avoided those aspects. These were the Ally NPCs.
Over time, most of the Interactive NPCs were ignored as the rewards weren’t that useful. They had been intended for more immersive roleplaying but the focus of the game had shifted. Hall had still found them to be fun and a break from the grind, but there was a lot of work involved in raising Alliance levels to unlock the really good benefits. He wondered if the Alliance Reputation he had gotten from Guard Captain Henry was connected.
Some of the Interactive Ally NPCs could become adventuring companions and fight alongside the players as extra party members. They, too, came with their own quests. They didn’t level with the player though so it became almost leveling up two characters at the same time. More annoying than useful.
Hall wondered what this new AI they were talking about was and where the Ally NPCs had been encountered. He hadn’t seen any in Grayhold yet.
He studied the other Players in the Inn. They were eating and had drinks but nothing extravagant. They were all trying hard to save money. There wasn’t much in the way of new equipment, most of it the starting gear. They had probably done the wolf quest and sold all the hides and herbs they had found. Some had probably gone into the Gray Dragon Peaks.
The mountains south of Grayhold were more dangerous than the forests with higher level monsters, but the rewards would be greater. There were Caobolds in the foothills, which would drop some coin and possibly ore. Rarely, they’d drop some jewels.
He thought of the Players outside in the streets. The ones in here, like Roxhard and himself, had somehow recovered quickly. They had accepted, somewhat, the new reality and were making the most of it. How many Players were currently lost in the wilds, or dead in the wilds, like Roxhard would have been?
Hall didn’t know how he was managing to cope. By rights he should have been like Roxhard had been when found. Just ready to give up. In the outside world, he had never been that adventurous or risk taking. He hated trying new things, a person of routine. He liked what he liked, did
what he did. Being thrown into a new reality should have shut him down.
Some of the Players probably still thought of all this as temporary. They’d be able to log out soon and wake up as themselves again. A funny story to tell later in life. Hall didn’t believe it. No real evidence except his gut feeling. This was real. He knew it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
He woke with the sun that streamed through the window.
The bed was the most comfortable thing he had ever slept on. It wasn’t really, but after days on the hard ground, it was amazing. He’d slept well, even with Roxhard snoring in the room’s other bed.
Standing up, he pulled on his leather armor, poking his fingers through some of the gaps. He needed to repair it or buy new armor fast. The shirt was the worst, the wolf’s claws had done major damage. The rest could last a while longer.
Belting on his sword, he kicked at Roxhard’s bed.
“Get up.”
The Dwarf grumbled, pulling the blanket tighter around himself.
“Going to be a long day, need a good breakfast.”
Learning the first ten points in Small Blades Triage was costly, two silver, but needed. The Triage skill gave Players the ability to self-heal by the use of bandages. Health had always regenerated over time, but not that quickly and not during combat. Bandages allowed for some healing during combat and accelerated healing outside of combat.
At least that was how they used to work.
Hall had noticed that the regen rate of health was much lower now. Almost non-existent. Both still bore aches and pains from wounds received during the fights with the wolves and Goblins. Neither was at full health and had not been since the first day. Or at least they didn’t feel at full Health. The status bar was full but they had lingering effects of their wounds. This was reflected in their Vitality rating. The night’s sleep had restored most of it.
His back hurt, the scabs over the wolf claw marks stretching with each movement he made. There was a large bruise just starting to fade on his temple from the Goblin boss’ sling stone.