Light Online Book One: Farmer

by Tom Larcombe

  Now his eyes saw the indents left by both Lucky and the Nubbies, they'd been rushing so they were deeper than normal and he couldn't understand why he couldn't see them before.

  Unless the game prevents it most of the time until you have the skill, he thought.

  He followed the, now obvious, trail directly to a hole in the ground, one much larger than the one they'd found the day before, but still small enough that if they were to enter it, they'd need to be in a crouch or bent over almost all the way.

  The ground in front of the hole and the tunnel inside were hard packed dirt, or at least the tunnel was for the first few feet that he could see from the light. Beyond that it was dark.

  “Well crap,” Eddie said. “We should've brought a torch or something.”

  “I got it,” Karl said. He pulled a stick from his inventory. It had a rabbit pelt wrapped around one end and the pelt looked damp and glossy, like it had been dipped in something. When he pulled flint and steel out of his inventory next, Eddie's eyes widened.

  “Where'd you get those?”

  Karl chuckled.

  “Remember all that trouble getting the fires started?” he asked. “These were on the mantle over the fireplace.”

  Eddie felt like an idiot, he'd never even thought to check. With everything else going on, he'd just figured the company was being cheap in that aspect as well.

  Karl struck the flint and steel several times, eventually getting his torch to light.

  “Pine sap, it isn't as good as some other types, but it'll burn for a while,” he said.

  “You've got the light, so after you.”

  Eddie hefted his throwing stick and followed closely behind Karl. He'd been right and they had to bend over almost double to fit through the tunnel, except for Lucky. The bobcat didn't even come close to the roof of the tunnel and Eddie was glad of it since she was also their most effective combatant.

  Lucky stopped in her tracks, her fur rising, and let out a hiss.

  Eddie was about to tell Karl to stop, but he'd heard her too and already had.

  “What's up ahead?” Eddie hissed.

  “Looks like an intersection. There's tunnels to both sides, but they're a lot smaller than this one.”

  “Guess we keep going forward then,” Eddie said.

  “I don't like this.”

  “Neither do I, but unless we want to get back to digging this is how we need to do this.”

  Karl started advancing again, more slowly this time. As they passed the corridors, Eddie heard the sound of something moving in them. He tugged on Karl's shirt, then spun around facing the intersection.

  Nubbies came leaping into the intersection, one from each of the smaller tunnels. Eddie snapped his arm forward, striking one with his throwing stick. Lucky darted between his feet, attacking the one he hadn't already damaged.

  Eddie's staff was just small enough to be used in the tight confines, but even so there were some moves he couldn't make with it. Instead he pretended he was playing hockey, trying to throw the Nubby back into the goal that was the corridor it had exited from. He struck it, but it only shifted several inches and he wasn't even sure he'd hurt it.

  The Nubby leapt at him, but Eddie managed to interpose his staff between the two of them. The combat interface on the lower portion of his screen started flashing, but he couldn't take the time to look at it. He drew his staff back and thrust forward with it, pushing the Nubby farther away.

  Lucky came flying across the corridor, latching onto the Nubby's front paw with her jaws. Her claws raked across its flank and the Nubby squealed. It thrust its blunted horn at her but hit at an angle so shallow that Eddie was sure it hadn't done any actual damage.

  Desperate to keep the bobcat from getting hurt, even though he intellectually knew that she was a better fighter and had more health than he did, he cried out and thrust his staff again.

  This time the staff caught the Nubby's head with a resounding crack, the animal going still as Lucky continued to worry at its paw.

  “It's okay Lucky, it's dead,” Eddie said.

  The bobcat released it's grip, but not before tearing the paw off and swallowing it. Eddie shuddered for a moment before he bent over and touched each of the Nubbys' corpses, laughing at the results from the corpse Lucky had just released her grip on.

  “Hey Karl, present for you,” Eddie said.

  He tossed Karl the rabbit's foot that the second Nubby had dropped as part of its loot.

  “Wear it or hold it, it adds one to Luck,” Eddie said.

  His own rabbit's foot was attached to a thong around his neck and he wasn't sure if the bonuses would stack. Besides, he figured Karl could use the rare drop since he didn't have much in the way of equipment yet.

  Karl grinned at him.

  “Thanks, I'll take it. First piece of stat adjusting equipment I get and it's Luck. Wouldn't you know it, just my...” he stopped and trailed off when he realized what he'd been about to say.

  “Just your luck?” Eddie supplied, a grin on his face.

  “Shut up,” Karl said, then he turned around and continued down the passage.

  Karl stopped again a little way deeper into the tunnel.

  “Hey, I think it opens up in front of us,” he said.

  “Keep an eye out, I think all those Nubbies outside were lair guards and Lucky pulled them for us. That means we're liable to run into the boss without much warning.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Karl muttered, “teach your grandmother to suck eggs why don't you.”

  Eddie suppressed the chuckle that wanted to burst forth. Karl seemed to not be enjoying himself too much, but Eddie was having a blast. Even the adrenaline rush from the Nubbies that attacked inside the tunnel was contributing to it, although he was pretty sure he'd crash from that soon.

  “Holy shit,” Karl said as he took a few more steps forward.

  “What?” Eddie asked.

  Then he noticed that Karl had straightened up. He was standing in a room made of packed dirt and as Eddie looked past Karl he realized what the man had been talking about.

  On the opposite side of the room was a bunny, a really big bunny.

  Evaluate, Eddie thought.

  Warren Mother:

  Type: Animal

  Level: 5

  Armor: 20

  Health 65 (+/-)

  Attack: ?

  You are currently unable to obtain more information about Warren Mother with Evaluate.

  A moment later Eddie spotted the Nubby beside her, it was twice as large as the others they'd seen and the horn on its head was longer, although still blunt on the end.

  Evaluate, Eddie thought again.

  Elder Nubby (male):

  Type: Animal

  Level: 3

  Armor: 15

  Health 36 (+/-)

  Attack: ?

  You are currently unable to obtain more information about Elder Nubby (male) with Evaluate.

  You have upgraded the skill Evaluate to (3). But I don't think that's going to help you right now.

  Karl had frozen and both of the creatures were staring at him.

  “Oh shit,” Eddie said, “we're screwed. The Nubby is level three, but the big one is level five, a Warren Mother.”

  “You ain't kidding, it sure is a big mother,” Karl replied softly.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Eleven

  Aaron picked up the phone nervously and dialed Mr. Greenshaw's number.

  “Yes, what is it?” came the voice from the other end.

  Figures he doesn't even answer his phone politely, Aaron thought.

  “Sir, I've been told we have possession of the warehouse.”

  “Good, then you can fix the problem.”

  “Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't. We have the pods, but we don't have the server that they access for their instructions. We've got people trying to trace it, but we aren't having any luck.”

  “Then just crack open the pods and get those people out, then the experime
nts will have to stop.”

  “Sir, you realize that that could kill them, right? We don't want to do that, do we?”

  Mr. Greenshaw harumphed on the other end of the phone.

  “No, no, that might open us up to lawsuits we'd rather not deal with. I suppose you'll just have to placate the players in the game then. Make sure they're happy and aren't going to make a fuss about this. Get signed releases from them.”

  Not likely they'd try to sue us, more likely it would be the company that put them in there, Aaron thought, but he's the boss, so what he says goes.

  “Yes sir, I'll do that sir. What limitations should I put on the players' requests? Some of them are liable to request truly outrageous things if they think they've got us over a barrel.”

  “Make it a budget of a thirty thousand between all of them, use standard market rates for the value of their requests. We can absorb that without a problem and it ought to be enough to keep them happy,” Mr. Greenshaw said. “But they only get it if they sign the releases.”

  “Yes sir,” Aaron said.

  He grimaced as he heard the click of the phone being hung up on the other end.

  What are these guys going to want that they can get for five grand a piece? he wondered. And should I buy it in the auction or just load it up for them. I hate when management gets involved like this, they just don't have the background to give clear instructions.

  ~ ~ ~

  So far the two inhabitants of the small cave hadn't done anything but stare at Karl. That all changed as Lucky streaked across the room, diving for the throat of the Elder Nubby. The Nubby dodged the first claw that flashed at him, but his dodge led him right into the second one which stopped him cold and let Lucky get her jaws fastened onto him.

  The Warren Mother broke out of her stillness when she saw the Nubby attacked. She spun and one of her rear paws lashed out at Lucky, fortunately it missed, but when Eddie saw the attack he shouldered his way past Karl, standing beside him as soon as he could straighten. The throwing stick in his hand flashed out towards the Warren Mother.

  She flinched as it struck her, then let out an awful wail that left Eddie's ears ringing.

  “Attack already,” he said to Karl, who was still standing still.

  Karl's throwing stick went flying as well, striking the Warren Mother as she straightened back out from her attack on Lucky. The Elder Nubby tried to slam Lucky into the wall of the cave and the cat gave off a faint yip as it rammed her into the packed dirt.

  Lucky drew her rear claws up and set to dragging them across the Elder Nubby's hide. It screeched and twisted, trying to get her to release her jaws.

  Eddie's other throwing stick went flying towards the Warren Mother but this time it bounced off of her without doing any damage. Karl took a deep breath beside him, then went racing towards the Mother. With a Kali stick in one hand and the flaming torch in the other, he struck.

  His Kali stick took the Mother in the nose, but when he struck with the torch, she flinched back to avoid it.

  The Nubby pushed a paw between its hide and Lucky and tried to fling her away, but she held tight despite its attempts. The Warren Mother had better luck, it caught Karl with one of its paws, sending him flying into the packed dirt wall of the room. Karl staggered for a moment, then steadied.

  Eddie really didn't want to close in to melee range with the Mother after he saw what happened to Karl. He looked around quickly and noticed that Karl's throwing stick had luckily landed right in front of him after bouncing off the Mother. He grabbed it quickly and cocked his arm, waiting for a good moment to throw.

  The light in the room was dimmer with Karl over on the far side, but Eddie still saw it when the Elder Nubby fell, Lucky still attached and raking her claws in it. With a sigh of relief Eddie hurled the throwing stick, making sure that Karl was nowhere near his target first.

  It struck the Warren Mother, eliciting another ear-ringing squeal out of her, but the big bunny still seemed to be going strong.

  The Mother was now paying less attention to Karl, having noticed Eddie hurting her twice she was coming for him. As she reached him, she spun around and lashed out with both rear paws. Eddie tried to dodge, but one of them caught him, sending him flying across the room. When he hit the wall, he felt something hard in it as his back struck. He was out of breath for the moment and trying to breathe was nearly impossible.

  His health counter flashed in front of his eyes:

  Health: 6/10

  The Mother was hopping towards him again when Karl struck, this time from behind. The Mother let out another of the horrible squeals as her tail burst into flames where Karl had struck her with the torch.

  “Hey, that attack taught me backstab,” Karl yelled in a gleeful voice.

  Eddie had caught his breath and yelled in reply.

  “Pay attention to the Mother, she's targeting you again,” he yelled.

  Karl's hurried “Oh shit” was barely audible to Eddie since he was all the way across the room. He forced himself back to his feet and stumbled as he moved towards the Warren Mother. There was enough room here that he could move his melee staff freely so he swung like he was trying to hit a ball out of the park, trying hard to keep his body away from her tail, which was still burning. He struck hard enough that the staff shivered in his hands on impact, but the Mother was still focused on Karl.

  Another of Eddie's counters flashed in his view, this one orange.

  Stamina is low: 5/25

  The Warren Mother lashed out with a paw that hit Karl in the head. He barely kept his feet and his return attack suffered for it. The Kali stick struck, but the torch missed, the Mother once more dodging the flames when she saw them coming for her.

  A flash of tan came flying out of the shadows at the side of the room. Lucky hit the Warren Mother, landing on her back and spinning in a circle around the one claw that sank into the Mother's flesh. She clamped down with her teeth on the Mother's back and for a third time the Mother let out a squeal that left Eddie's ears ringing.

  “Now, while she's distracted,” Karl yelled.

  Karl and Eddie struck at the same time and when they each landed a blow the Warren Mother's legs went flying outwards, out of control this time. The Mother landed on the packed dirt floor of the room, the fire on her tail finally burning itself out as she spasmed in her death throes.

  Eddie took a deep breath, then pulled up his combat logs now that he was out of the fight.

  Enemy slain: Elder Nubby (Male) (level 3)

  You have earned 50 (+5 well-rested, +13 blessing) exp.

  Enemy slain: Warren Mother (level 5)

  You have earned 75 (+8 well-rested, +19 blessing) exp.

  “What the hell?” Karl said, “I thought that should take care of the quest.”

  “I don't know, maybe something down one of those other passages?” Eddie replied.

  “They're too small. I'm not going to crawl down one of those things, not gonna happen.”

  “They aren't too small for Lucky. You work on looting these two, and then butcher them if you can, I'll take Lucky back to the intersection and see if she's willing to go down the other tunnels.”

  “To hell with that, I'm not going to be able to focus well on skinning or butchering these things in here,” Karl said.

  He placed a hand on the Elder Nubby corpse and willed it into his inventory, then did the same with the body of the Warren Mother. Eddie sat there, shaking his head, as he watched the huge Warren Mother body abruptly disappear.

  “I just assumed those were going to be too large for that,” he said.

  “I think the general rule is if you can pick it up and you have an empty slot, you can stow it in your inventory,” Karl said. “Kind of broken, but in our favor, so I'm not bitching.”

  “Well, let's go.”

  “Wait, it looks like your cat is hurt too, how about we all heal, including her, then we try this.”

  Eddie nodded, looking at Lucky. She certainly wasn't moving w
ith her normal grace, but she wasn't whimpering with pain either.

  “Come here girl,” he said.

  She crawled into his lap after he sat back against the wall and he petted her as they healed. Her rumbling purr echoed in the small room.

  “I'm full,” Eddie announced a few minutes later.

  “That was fast, I'm not,” Karl said.

  Evaluate, Eddie thought, looking at the cat.

  Lucky

  Type: Animal(pet)

  Young Bobcat (female)

  Level: 3

  Armor: 35

  Health 28/32

  Attack: 25 (3)

  Dmg: 2-8/2-8/3-9

  Status: Pet

  “Lucky has a bit left to heal too,” Eddie said. “So no problem, we'll wait a little longer.”

  Eddie was impatiently tapping his fingers as he waited. Lucky turned to him and glared until he noticed that he was tapping his fingers on her. Once he stopped, she turned her head away again.

  “Oops, sorry,” he said softly. “I'm just a little nervous and excited is all.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie stared down first one corridor then the other, trying to figure out how to express what he wanted from Lucky so she'd understand.

  “Lucky, check the corridors?” he said.

  She stood there, tail switching, apparently impatient.

  He heard a rustle down one of the corridors and an inspiration hit him. He pointed down the corridor where he'd heard the noise.

  “Go get it girl,” he said.

  At that, Lucky crouched down and started making her way down the corridor. A couple of minutes later Eddie received experience notifications saying that three Baby Nubbies were killed. The experience was tiny, less than five each, but at least he knew that there were still bunnies, of one sort or another, in the lair.

  When Lucky returned, he repeated the process, pointing down the other corridor this time.