by Jason Cheek
“Thanks, that means a lot coming from you,” I replied, giving her a wry grin. “It was a close fight, but we managed to save everyone.” Seeing her yawn tiredly, I nodded towards the fire. “Go ahead and get some rest. I’ll keep watch throughout the storm.”
“Are you sure? You can’t be in much better shape than the rest of us.” Ulia said searching my eyes.
“I’ll keep,” I said confidently. “Just make sure you’re rested up enough to head out once the storm passes.”
“This storm should even stop the northern invaders from sending out patrols, but we can’t be caught unaware or …” Dark emotions flittered over Ulia’s face as her voice caught in her throat at some memory.
“Or we’re Bantha fodder,” I said, completing her sentence.
“Bantha fodder?” Ulia asked, caught by surprise at the unfamiliar turn of phrase.
“Yea … umm … that’s a term from my world. Basically means we’re dead. Direct translation is we’re a large creature’s food source.” I explained, smiling uncomfortably. The term had always been a joke amongst my fellow geeks while growing up for any difficult situations. That was, until now where the direct translation had the possibility of becoming a reality.
“Hmmm, that’s a good term. I’ll have to remember that.” Ulia thoughtfully replied as I tried not to roll my eyes. The howling wind suddenly buffeting our shelter broke her train of thought as she began laying down on the skins that had been strewn around the firepit. “Wake me if you begin to tire.”
“I will. Now sleep.”
I studied my charges as I went through the Goblins’ loot. Most of the clothing consisted of rancid skins and leathers. While overall not bad for combat, they didn’t offer much in the way of protection from the elements, but they were better clothing than the rags the NPCs were currently wearing. Obviously, the northern humanoid tribes didn’t have much of a problem with the cold. Definitely something to remember for the future. I thought grimly, tossing the leathers into a pile in disgust.
This day was turning out to be a partial waste. Not that I could’ve traveled for much longer in this weather anyway. Still, on the positive side, I’d at least gotten a mini-quest out of this cluster fuck and two guides for BrokenFang Hold instead of completely wasting the day trapped in the mountains in the middle of a blizzard with nothing to do.
In truth, I’d just made out like a bandit if you considered NPCs as a strategic resource. I couldn’t help grinning at my thoughts. If I could finish off this Nightmare quest, I’d be sitting pretty. Besides, it was nothing to be annoyed at. Picking up unique quests were always different than straight up fighting or crafting quests. No sense in getting frustrated at the different pace.
While the NPCs rested up, I was busy working. I did heals on the each of the survivors while they slept, making sure their Hit Points were fully back into the green by the time they awoke. Hopefully, that would help them survive the trek down the mountain. Between heals, food, water and rest their max health was once again fully available. All of which was part of the plans I was making for getting the survivors back to Requiem and still complete my recon quest of BrokenFang Hold before everyone arrived on Saturday.
With that thought in mind, I spent the hours in-between heals breaking down the loot into separate piles of gear for each survivor. Lastly, I went out into the snow and cleaned up the bodies and tracks from the battle the best I could, since there wasn’t much I could do about the pools of nearly frozen blood except cover it all up. While the game mechanics automatically removed animal bodies as soon as you looted or skinned them; unfortunately, humanoids bodies fell under a different set of rules. Looting the gear didn’t remove the bodies, so I ended up having to gather up the corpses and hide them the best I could under a pile of rocks and snow. By the time I was finished my body felt like a frozen Popsicle, but at least our temporary camp wouldn’t be easily found by any passing patrol.
It took four hours for the storm to finally pass. By then I’d finished all of my tasks for the two quests I’d set for myself and even went through a number of my messages. None of the responses would go out until I hit a town or my village, but at least they’d go out automatically once I did. As soon as the sky started to clear, I began waking everyone up to move out. While there was some bitching, it was mostly just the default you’d expect to hear from any group of people waking up when they were still physically and mentally exhausted. Thankfully, everyone knew the deal and got moving relatively quickly once they were awake.
Overall I was impressed with the NPCs of House of Kayden. It only took about an hour to get everyone fed and geared up. There was some consternation at first when the group learned I wasn’t going to be escorting them back to Requiem, which quickly turned into a heated argument as soon as everyone found out that Ulia and Keela would be heading back to BrokenFang Hold with me as guides. The recent battle with the Goblins was still fresh in everyone’s mind and was probably the only thing that stopped the argument from turning into a full-fledged brawl. So, I did the only thing I could think of to do. I told the NPCs the story of how I’d met up with Ilana Daeralds: How the House of Kayden refugees had been violently turned away by the Light Elves when they’d approached the city of Delonshire. I talked about my part of the battle against the Goblin Raiders that had nearly ended the survivors’ lives and of the village of Requiem that I’d built as a safe haven.
While I talked, Ulia pulled a few of the unofficial leaders to the side for a hurried discussion. By the time she’d finished their talk, I was in the process of explaining about the recon quest and how I’d come to their rescue. As I completed my story, the NPCs surged forward to surround me, clapping me on the back in thanks and relief as I was inundated with questions. I answered the best I could as I belatedly realized the altercation was all but over. It took me a second to understand the one hundred and eighty degree change that had come over the NPCs, but it slowly dawned on me that every one of them understood what was truly at risk, aka: the end of House of Kayden; their own deaths in three days if control over BrokenFang Hold couldn’t be wrestled free of the northern invaders; the risk of invasion for the rest of the continent and the core cities of the Light Elves.
Aiden Calanon and Terdian Sharidenum, two of the largest men of the group that had been the most vocal opponents against splitting up and the defacto leaders after Ulia, had changed their tunes altogether and now offered their full support. Aiden was one the House of Kayden’s master blacksmith, while Terdian was one of the last surviving lead masons. Both experienced and respected crafters in their own right, while those skills were essential for my future plans to build up the guild, even more important was that both men were skilled with the spear and bow. With the two of them leading the group down the mountain and the rest of the NPCs at least armed, everyone thought they could make to Requiem without any major issues as long as they only had to fight wolves or boars. It was a risk, but one that everyone was willing to take if it helped to free BrokenFang Hold from the invader’s grasp.
The temperature had noticeably dropped once the storm front had passed, making the fresh snow crunch with every footstep. Even though none of the moons were up, visibility wasn’t a problem between the sea of stars, the fresh sparkling snow, and our natural darkvision. With everyone working together, it only took a few minutes to break down the camp. Recovering the spears and skins that Ulia had used for the lean-to gave everyone a thin hide to use as a wrap against the bitter cold and a weapon.
Ulia, Keela and I took the time to escort the NPCs back up to the ridge. I’d read enough Tom Clancy novels to direct the NPCs to walk in the footprints of the person in front of them to make it harder for any trackers to figure out what they were tracking and how many they were following. Still, twenty-one people left a wide path in the fresh snow. Stopping at the top of the ridge, we kept watching while the NCPs descended into the valley. When Terdian, who was bringing up the rear, gave a last wave before disappearing out of sight i
nto the treeline, I nodded for Ulia to take the lead as we descended in the opposite direction.
It took a little longer for us to cover the distance back the way we’d come since I was taking the time to clear the tracks left behind the best I could. The wolfskin I trailed behind me weighted down with a couple of rocks mostly did the trick of filling in the tracks. Still, I’d rather have nothing showing that anyone had headed up the slope from the Goblin camp if at all possible. I could only cross my fingers that nothing came this way before the wind had a chance to smooth out the drag marks, but I figured it was better than nothing.
Once we got below the camp, the going was much slower. Each step required wading through knee-deep snow as we broke a new trail down the slope. Even though the technique I was using to clear our tracks was relatively a hands-free process, I found myself working up a sweat by the time we made it down to the treeline. Ulia paused long enough for me to break down my gear and pack it away before heading off at full speed into the inky darkness of the woods. The pace she set was like something out of the Two Towers chase for the hobbits. If not for my inhuman stats, there would’ve been no way I could have kept up.
The three of us traveled like this for hours, silent except for our heavy breathing. Ulia never looked back, never broke stride. Her focus was straight as an arrow as she raced along the barely visible trails between the towering peaks. In the patches of starlight, I caught flashes of Keela’s pale face tight with exhaustion. Being a mage, her physical attributes would naturally be much lower than that of the swordswoman’s or my own, but still, she ran on without complaint. Impressive I thought, concentrating on my own breathing as I kept pace behind her.
The trek would have bored me to tears if not for the constant need to watch out for each slippery step on the icy trails and the random Goblin patrols that were camped out for the night. We saw our first around the two-hour mark. The light from the campfires was easy to see at a distance through the trees. Immediately, Ulia angled our path towards a point just above the camp. Sliding like a shadow down the icy slope, the swordswoman came to a stop as her eyes intently searched the Goblin camp below. A moment later, Keela came to a stop next to Ulia panting heavy.
Bringing up the rear, I caught up to the two women a moment later breathing heavy from the intense run. Looking down at the camp, I felt my anger rising to the surface. There were at least twenty of the vile creatures below. Even in the blowing wind from thirty yards away, the stench of their unwashed bodies filled the crisp night air. Shit and piss covered the camp randomly as the Goblins soiled the ground wherever they were, in-between fighting over food or pummeling one another with a casual brutality that turned my stomach to watch. Thankfully, there were no prisoners for them to torture.
My instinct was to kill them all, but that was before I truly considered our odds. We’d managed to take out fifteen of the fuckers before with the help of the prisoners we’d freed and almost died in the process. This time it would just be us … three against twenty. Odds, in truth, that we didn’t need to face at this time.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed down the rage. I had to remember that this was a scouting mission with the goal of finding out what we faced without warning the enemy that we were coming. All of these thoughts ran through my mind in a split-second as I watched the camp below. Before I could question Ulia as to why we’d stopped, she’d already taken off heading back into the woods with Keela fast on her heels.
Semi-annoyed, I silently followed the women as we ran on through the night. Within an hour we’d run across another Goblin camp. Again, Ulia brought us in close enough to look for prisoners before taking off again without a word. At least I figured that’s what she was doing. There wasn’t a good way to ask her at a flat out run as we raced through the forest and besides … I didn’t know if I had the heart to deny rescuing our people if we found any in the camps below. Still, after stopping at the third camp of the night, I realized I had to say something. The detours were starting to seriously cut into our time and, the brutal truth was that there was no way we could bring a large group of half-starving refugees with us into enemy territory.
My stomach rolled at the thought of leaving anyone in the hands of these monsters, but we were running out of time. I silently fumed as we ran through the dark woods. It didn’t matter how many people we saved. They were all dead if we didn’t recover BrokenFang Hold. I held my tongue until Ulia started heading towards the distant lights of the next group of Goblins we’d run across. Increasing my pace, I cut ahead of Keela to catch Ulia as soon as she came to a stop above the next camp. Before she could take-off, I forcibly caught her arm only to have her jerk out of my grasp.
“What do you want?” Ulia hissed angrily under her breath.
“Where are you leading us?” I snapped back in the same tone as I grabbed her arm again. “We’re supposed to be scouting BrokenFang Hold to save our people, not stopping by every Goblin camp in-between. Why are you needlessly putting our mission at risk?”
“I’m checking for survivors!” Ulia spat, ripping her arm out of my grasp again. Turning around without looking back, she raced up the hill forcing me to chase after. Cursing silently, I caught up to her in ten strides. Grabbing her by the shoulder, I spun her around to face me as she sprawled onto her back in the snow.
“What the hell has gotten into you?” I hissed under my breath, trying to keep my voice down as Keela came to a stop behind me. “You know how important our missions is. We only have two days to recon BrokenFang Hold, get a plan together and drive the enemy away. So tell me … what the hell are you thinking?”
Pressing her lips together, Ulia hung her head, refusing to meet my eyes as I threw my head back and growled in frustration while clawing at the sky. “Goddammit talk to me!”
“Tell him.” Keela’s brittle voice commanded from behind my back. Ignoring my angry glare the little mage kept her eyes focused on the swordswoman at my feet. “You have to tell him the truth.” The internal struggle Ulia was going through was plainly visible on her face as she came to a decision to speak truthfully.
“There were ten children with us when our group was captured,” Ulia said slowly, ignoring the tears that started to run down her face. “The Goblins ambushed us at the crest of the mountain, and we were surrounded before we knew it. Five wounded swordsmen and thirty crafters against forty raiders … it was a slaughter.” Her voice caught in her throat for a moment before continuing. ”To get everyone to head towards the safety of your Requiem, I promised Master Calanon that we’d find a way to rescue the children that were taken.”
“That sounds straightforward enough,” I said, frowning in confusion as both women looked away. “I’ve already saved a number of our people … why didn’t you share this information with me from the beginning?”
“In the time since the newfar have started appearing in our lands, there have been many stories told … the gist is always the same.” Ulia said, a mixture of embarrassment and determination clear on her face. “It is said that the newfar are capable of great feats, but that they care little for the people of the land.” Keela guardedly watched my face as her friend spoke, looking for a reaction.
“You are the first newfar that any of us have met and yet … you have repeatedly risked your life to save us and others.” Meeting my eyes, Ulia asked softly. “Would you help rescue our captured children?”
New Quest! Rescuing captured children of House of Kayden captured by the invaders (Secret-Quest Part 2)!
Monster tribes of the north have taken a group of children from refugees escaping from BrokenFang Hold led by Ulia Dathielen. Rescue the children for the House of Kayden survivors.
Warning! This quest is timed! 23 hour and 30 minutes remaining! This quest will fail if all the children die!
10/10 Children Alive.
Objective: Rescue children and get them back to Requiem.
Difficulty: Nightmare.
Reward: Experience and Reputation with House of Kay
den and Ulia Dathielen, Keela Moréfindiel, Terdian Sharidenum and Aidan Calanon!
Accept: Yes / No
My mind was abuzz as I accepted the quest without a second thought. While the tension in both women’s shoulders noticeably eased, I had to focus on choking back the sudden smile that came to my lips. Obviously, I’d seriously lucked out when I decided to help these two women on top of the mountain with their Troll. If I had the typical attitude that most players did with NPCs, I’d have never run across these secret quests. The rewards were pretty serious. Two guides to help find BrokenFang Hold that could also sub as fighters to assist in completing my Nightmare quest … it was a player’s jackpot.
If I’d just let them die instead of going to their rescue, I’d probably be lost wandering these mountains until my Nightmare quest timed-out on Sunday. Even more interesting was the NPCs’stories of the newfar. Was this overall negative attitude towards players something above and beyond reputation and faction? Definitely, something I need to learn more about but, for now, I needed to put these two NPCs at ease.
“Of course I’ll help,” I said, holding my hand out to Ulia. “Just remember, like any people, newfars can be both good and bad. So, if you’re wondering what kind of person I am, then watch my actions … that should tell you everything you need to know about me. Does that work for you?”
“I can work with that,” Ulia said after a quick look to her friend. Gripping my hand, she let me pull her back to her feet. Meeting both women’s hard gaze, I spoke softly. “Now, how about telling me the whole story?”
***
With that worked out, Ulia and Keela brought me up to speed on their story in short order. Basically, once they’d been captured, Turok, the Troll I’d fought on the mountain, had commanded a group of ten Goblins to take the children back to BrokenFang Hold while the rest of the patrol feasted on the remaining prisoners. In short, the rest of them would be unofficially killed trying to escape capture. The rest of the patrol had quickly made camp and began torturing and slaughtering the survivors one at a time, at least until Ulia had managed to free herself. She’d only been able to untie Keela before they’d been discovered and forced to flee. By then the storm had been in full swing which was where I came into the story shortly after.