by Tom Larcombe
As soon as he woke in the morning, he dismissed the notification that he was well-rested, then remembered what Aaron had said.
Help Meadowlands, he thought.
The Meadowlands is a medium-sized zone between the Forest of Fools and the Hammer Top Mountains. It is a zone rich in building resources that, as of yet, has been only lightly developed due to the threat of raids from both forest and mountains. Recommended levels: 1-5
There's a clue in there, is there? Eddie thought. The only thing that looks like a clue is the reference to it only being lightly developed, as of yet. I bet the 'as of yet' has people thinking the developers intend to work more here, but what if they intended it for player development? Aaron did say it was an indirect clue.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Ten
Allan Panning watched the security monitors he'd installed at his apartment. The alarm that had gone off just a minute ago had drawn his attention to them. They currently showed the warehouse that was being used for the experiments he was in charge of.
The ones I used to be in charge of anyway, he thought.
As the black-clad men carrying automatic weapons moved across the monitor screens, Allan started throwing things into a suitcase hurriedly. It took him less time to pack than it did for the security team to clear the warehouse. Just before he left his apartment he glanced at the screens again, just in time to see the leader of the security team trigger a communication device. Allan wasn't good at lip reading, but he was pretty sure of the man's words.
“All clear, we're secure here.”
His final action before leaving was to grab the mini-computer hosting the server that controlled the experiments. It had a satellite uplink and was battery powered, so it would stay connected almost anywhere he went. He was confident of the measures that had been taken to obscure its physical location despite its constant connection. Best of all, it had all the data collected so far on the experiments, which was information that he might be able to use to keep his ass out of trouble.
~ ~ ~
Eddie considered the help file on the Meadowlands. It was actually quite sparse compared to most of the other area help files he checked and he thought that that sparseness lent support to his theory that the area had been kept from development to allow players to do the developing.
As he mused about the possibility, Lucky rolled off of him and landed on the floor, racing towards the door and softly whining. Eddie went over and opened it to let the bobcat out. It was just barely dawn, the sun only hinting at lighting the area and leaving many places in gray shadow.
Lucky went racing out across the yard and Eddie closed the door again. He had a while before they'd try to finish cleaning out the rabbit lair, so he settled down on the chest at the foot of his bunk and pulled out his last throwing stick and his utility knife.
He'd done enough carving making the other two that he didn't have to focus intently on what he was doing, He just let his hands go through the motions they'd learned making the others.
Success:
You have obtained the skill Carpentry. (Help Carpentry for more details)
Huh, Eddie thought. Carpentry? That surprises me. Help Carpentry.
Carpentry is a skill used to create simple structures, simple furnishings, and simple weapons out of wood. The skill branches at higher levels allowing specialization in structures, furnishings, or weapons. This skill also gives a bonus to checks on the Bowyer/Fletcher skill. The size of the bonus is determined by your Carpentry skill.
Well, I guess that explain Paul's specialization in structures, Eddie thought. Admittedly I'm more interested in the bonus to Bowyer/Fletcher myself, but I can see where this skill might still fit a ranger type build, vaguely anyhow.
He finished the throwing stick quickly after that. Having an actual point in the skill smoothed out his motions and allowed him to see just where he needed to carve to smooth the stick out. When he finished it, he tested the balance and decided it was probably the best of the three he'd made.
Karl was still asleep when he finished, so Eddie put another log on the fire and strolled outside. He stopped dead as soon as he took a step outside. There were three bunnies laid out on the porch, dead, and Lucky was sitting out in the yard breaking her fast on a fourth.
It was only now that he noticed the minimized notifications in the lower left of his vision gently flashing. He pulled the notifications up and dismissed the experience messages.
“Holy shit,” he exclaimed, “Good job girl.”
Lucky gave him a feline grin, not the most reassuring sight in the world since her teeth were sharp and currently stained with the blood of her meal.
Eddie quickly looted the three on the porch, then grabbed his knife.
Wait a second, wasn't there a table of some sort in the tool shed? That would make skinning and butchering these so much easier.
He trotted over to the shed and took out the table he'd seen there. The top was scarred as though it had been used for building things and had taken some hits from tools or nails in the process, even so he thought it would be much nicer to take care of the kills standing up instead of kneeling at the edge of the porch.
The process went much more quickly standing and it wasn't long before he was sitting on the porch bench, working on his arrows again. As he finished one, he received another message.
Success:
You have obtained the skill Bowyer/Fletcher. (Help Bowyer/Fletcher for more details)
Almost immediately he realized that pine wasn't the ideal wood for arrows, at least not long-lasting ones. He also knew that fletching them would be a pain with no glue of any sort, but that he could still do it.
He pulled out the wood he'd obtained for bows and grinned.
Maybe not the best, but pretty good for the purpose, he thought. I can get or make better arrows later on, but if I do a decent job on it the bow will be worth keeping for a while.
About then he heard a jaw-cracking yawn from inside the bunkhouse. He stood, sliding the arrow shafts he'd completed into his inventory. The wood he hadn't worked on yet he just left in a pile on the porch since it wouldn't stack in his inventory and he didn't have enough slots left to hold it all.
Speaking of that, I need to figure out what to do with these rabbit pelts. They stack to twenty and I've still got more than a stack of them, plus another partial stack of the the ones I skinned myself.
“Karl,” Eddie called out, opening the door, “about time you got up, you lazy bum.”
Karl flipped him the finger and grunted as he stretched.
“What, it's all of about a half hour past dawn?” Karl asked. “Besides I didn't sleep really well last night after all that, so I had to sleep longer to be well-rested.”
“Okay, probably worth it then if you needed it for the buff, but remember we want to take out that lair this morning.”
“Sure, give me enough time to get something to eat and drink, then I'll be good. We've got six hours so no great rush.”
“You've got six hours. I've only got four and a half left on mine,” Eddie said.
“Still plenty of time.”
Eddie nodded.
“Meat for breakfast or just veggies?” he asked.
Karl considered for a moment.
“Just veggies I think. We'll celebrate the victory with a lunch roast of whatever meat the boss bunny drops.”
Eddie snickered at the idea of a boss bunny, although his snicker was cut short when he remembered the damage the Nubbies had done to him the day before.
“Yeah, assuming we manage to kill it.”
“Positive thinking man, we'll do it. It's a low-level lair.”
“And we're zero level with no armor and improvised weapons.”
“I was thinking about that actually. Do you have a bunch of those bunny pelts?”
Eddie nodded.
“How about we tie a mess of them around our legs from the knees down. That's where most of the attacks hit you yesterday, do you
think it would provide some protection?”
“It just might, and I've got a lot of them, so it's worth a shot.”
The two men walked outside. Lucky had finished her breakfast and was lying in the center of the yard, keeping an eye on things. When Eddie came out, she trotted over and started following him around.
They went to the garden and grabbed some breakfast. Once they'd eaten, they each pulled out a stack of rabbit pelts. Eddie also pulled out the one he'd cut for thongs before and finished cutting it up into laces, slightly thicker than the thongs.
“Here you go,” Eddie said, sliding some laces towards Karl.
The two men proceeded to tie a thick layer of pelts around their lower legs, repeating the process after they jumped up and down and found the pelts falling off.
It took nearly half an hour before they were satisfied with the results.
“Hey Karl, here,” Eddie said, pulling out a throwing stick and handing it to him. “I finished my third one this morning so I'll keep two and you can take this one. That way we both have a ranged attack.”
“Good plan, don't know how good I'll be with it though, my agility is only a nine.”
Eddie shrugged.
“Better to have it than not,” he said.
Lucky streaked out into the fields as the men started crossing them and it wasn't long until she came back with a bunny in her jaws.
“Heck, even if we don't clear this thing, your cat might manage it over the course of a few days,” Karl said.
Eddie just grinned, leaned over to scratch the bobcat between the ears, take the corpse, loot it, and stow everything in his inventory.
As they made their way to the far edge of the field Eddie's legs throbbed with the memory of yesterday's pain. He wasn't exactly hesitant, but he knew they could've done better yesterday and was determined they do so today.
The shovel and pick were where they'd left them the day before and he grimaced, realizing that the game probably did deterioration for things like that. He just hadn't thought of it sooner since he couldn't see durability yet. The tools still seemed to be in fine condition despite being left out overnight, so they picked them up.
“Alright, I think today one of us should dig while the other watches. That surprise attack yesterday took almost half my health in one shot,” Eddie said.
“Sounds good to me,” Karl said. “I'll start digging, you keep an eye out and be ready to throw one of those sticks of yours.”
Eddie nodded and took out the two throwing sticks he had left. He hung the one with the thong on his knife and kept the other one in his hand. He also had his staff out already, holding it in his other hand so it would be easily accessible.
Lucky was wandering the area, sniffing at the ground. It looked like she caught a scent since she headed north in almost a straight line, nose still close to the ground. She disappeared into a small stand of trees about a hundred yards to the north, nose still close to the ground.
Huh, I wonder what she found? Eddie thought idly, as he scanned the area.
A minute later he heard a series of shrill yips, as though Lucky had been hurt. Notifications flashed into his vision.
Enemy slain: Nubby (level 2)
You have earned 33 (+3 well-rested, +8 blessing) exp.
Enemy slain: Nubby (level 2)
You have earned 33 (+3 well-rested, +8 blessing) exp.
He spun to face the north where he'd last seen her and found her running back towards them with a bunch of Nubbies in chase.
“Incoming,” Eddie shouted.
Karl threw down the pick and pulled his Kali sticks from his belts.
“Use ranged first,” Eddie said, cocking the arm holding a throwing stick back.
As Lucky got closer Eddie saw that there were five of the Nubbies in chase.
Well shit, five Nubbies is going to be rough, but I'm not abandoning my cat.
Once they were in range, he hurled the first throwing stick, striking a Nubby in the head. It stopped for a moment, shook its head, then took up the chase again. He hurled the second stick at the same one, hitting it again. This time it stopped for more than a second, shaking its head again. Lucky streaked past Eddie, skidding in a turn that brought her back right alongside of him.
She snarled and pounced as the first Nubby got close. Eddie swung at another one, landing a solid strike and sending it skidding to the side.
An experience notification flashed as Lucky got a solid hold on her opponent's neck, then used her rear claws to disembowel it.
I keep forgetting to get rid of those things, Eddie thought, Combat notifications off.
The experience notification minimized to the lower left of his view, glowing slightly so he wouldn't forget about it. The Nubby he'd struck with his staff launched itself at him and he swung his staff at it, missing by a mile. The horn on its head struck him in the leg, but this time he barely felt the impact. He waited for his health to flash and show him what damage he'd taken, but it didn't.
Crap did I turn it off with the combat notification or did I just not take any damage? he wondered. It still hurt a little, but nowhere near as much as yesterday.
The Nubby seemed confused by his lack of reaction to its attack and stood still for just a moment too long as he caught it on the back with his staff. The downward strike made a cracking noise and the Nubby collapsed to the ground, twitching.
Lucky was facing off with another Nubby, but this one had managed to evade her bite so far. Eddie waited until it dodged his way to avoid her bite, then swung, catching it in the side and knocking it right back into Lucky's path. Her teeth clamped down on it and she pulled the rest of her body to where she could get her rear claws into play and that Nubby was down as well.
Karl was facing off with two, or at least had been. There was a Nubby crumpled in front of him, although he was still fighting with the other one. Eddie trotted forward and recovered one of his throwing sticks. He sent it flying towards Karl's remaining opponent, striking it in the side. A moment later Karl brought a Kali stick down on its head and that Nubby collapsed as well.
Karl glanced around wildly before sagging with relief.
“Damn, that was a little too close. I thought we were gonna buy it,” he said.
“Hey, you're the one that said to think positively,” Eddie replied.
“Yeah, that was before I got hit by these guys a few times.”
He limped over towards Eddie.
“What the hell was your cat doing that it got chased back by so many of these things?” Karl asked.
Eddie shrugged.
“I'd rather know why there were a bunch of these not in the lair. Did you see the two exp notifications before she came running back? She killed a couple of them up that way first.”
Karl's eyes took on a thoughtful look.
“You know what? I don't think we're at the main entrance to the lair here, I bet Lucky found that and this is just a secondary entrance, or maybe a bolthole. Where was she anyhow?”
“In that small stand of trees up that way,” Eddie said, pointing.
“Cool, give me a little while to heal up and we'll go check it out.”
Eddie sank to the ground, pulling up his combat notifications. He hadn't actually taken any damage, so the rabbit pelts had worked, and now he was 220 exp higher than before the fight had taken place.
“Thanks, by the way,” Karl said. “Softening up that first Nubby let me drop him right away. He only took one more hit. I missed entirely with the stick you gave me.”
“You're welcome. Teamwork, right?”
“Yeah, but I'm a little nervous about what else Lucky might bring us.”
“She's just lying here right now. So no worries for the moment.”
Eddie walked around, looting the Nubbies.
“Cool, every last one of these guys has a Nubby horn. I wonder if they're worth anything?”
“We won't know for a while, there's nowhere around here to check.”
“
Actually, I overheard some adventurers saying there was a small village and a trading post down the road a bit,” Eddie said.
“There is? Awesome, maybe they'll be worth something and we can actually get some real gear.”
“Well, let's wait and see what else we find here, then we can go down and see what they have. I bet the prices suck though, out here in the middle of nowhere.”
Karl nodded.
“You're probably right, but still...”
Lucky purred as Eddie settled back down and started petting her while he waited for Karl to heal.
~ ~ ~
It was nearly a half hour later when Karl stood and announced that he was good to go.
“Healing here takes longer than I expected,” he said.
“We don't know that for sure,” Eddie replied. “It could just still be one of those zero level things. What's your endurance? That's supposed to control it.”
“Eleven,” Karl replied, “Ten strength and eleven health. I guess they round up.”
“Okay, maybe there's a level modifier in the healing rate as well? Hopefully we'll find out after we finish this lair.”
Eddie stood and started walking north.
“Lucky, you want to show me what you found?” he said.
The bobcat was following him and when he turned to talk to her, she looked at him, but just stayed where she was.
“There must be a way to train pets,” Eddie said.
Karl laughed out loud.
“You do realize that you're talking about a kind of cat, right? Train a cat?”
His laughter trailed off as they approached the edge of the treeline. Eddie studied the ground where Lucky and the Nubbies had appeared.
Success:
You have obtained the skill Tracking. (Help Tracking for more details)