Everyone found a seat at the table and sat. When Jim and Shara joined them, they closed the doors to the dining room and took the two remaining seats. It didn’t take Tim long to fill them in on what happened during the battle and the note they found afterward.
“This isn’t good at all.” Brother Colton shook his head. “We’re going to need soldiers. I must go to see the High Priest at once.”
He strode toward the door, then paused. “This goes without saying, but no one goes out in the fields until I come back and can personally guarantee their safety.”
“Whatever you want,” Jim replied as he stood. “But I’m not sure I should be in charge.”
Shara smiled. “Eternia would say life is what we make with the chances we’re given.”
“Yes, she would.” Brother Colton made the sign of Eternia over his chest. “Jim, you’re in charge until I get back. If you need any advice, Shara is at your disposal.”
Tim watched as the priest opened the doors and strode purposefully from the room. That left his team to decide whether they wanted to go track down Doctor Z now or if it made more sense to wait until the morning. Their chances of finding a secret lair in the dark weren’t optimal, and they could all probably use a meal before heading back out.
“Jim, is there somewhere we can bunk down before heading out in the morning?” Tim looked at the foreman and hoped the answer wasn’t outside somewhere.
Jim and Shara made their way to the door as he answered. “There are three bedrooms upstairs. You’re welcome to any of them. I think it’d be best if I stayed with everyone else tonight since I’m sure they’ll have a lot of questions for me to answer.”
Shara gave their group one last smile and left the room with Jim.
“Looks like we have the place to ourselves.” JaKobi grinned as he tilted his chair back and put his feet up on the table.
Cassie knocked his feet off. “Heathen.” She pointed at the door. “Go upstairs and find a bedroom suitable for my station.”
“Yes!” JaKobi ran from the room.
Strolling saucily after him, Cassie laughed. “Sometimes, it’s just too easy.”
Lorelei made a retching sound. “I think I’m going to stay down here for a bit.”
“Probably a good idea.” ShadowLily winked at her. “Let’s see if we can wrangle up some grub.”
Tim watched the two of them leave the room, but his mind was already drifting off to thoughts of how he could improve his rotation to eke a little more juice from his spells. The way he used Healing Storm today wasn’t optimal. Getting flashy was fine and dandy for a fight the group knew, but for new encounters, he quickly decided defense was the better part of valor.
A little dust drifted down from the ceiling, followed by several thumping noises. Tim looked up, trying not to laugh out loud.
Maybe he should help the ladies with dinner.
Chapter Thirteen
Mornings sucked.
Still, they weren’t all bad. Every momentous day throughout history started with a morning. Tim kinda wondered if George Washington hated mornings. Back then, the coffee—if they had any—was probably vile stuff. Imagine trying to win a revolution fueled by substandard coffee.
What a disgrace.
Tim kind of imagined George’s coffee tasting a lot like the coffee he was forced to digest while interning in corporate America. He didn’t know which bean countersigned on the coffee budget for the year, but they should’ve been brought up on charges. Maybe that was why insurance costs went up for his parents every year. Workers were being poisoned with cheap coffee all across America.
Thankfully inside The Etheric Coast, Tim had only run into decent cups of coffee. He was sure a bad one existed somewhere in the game. There weren’t any cops here to take a drink and spit it out before glaring back at the coffee maker in disgust. If the coffee in corporate America was bad, the coffee in a police station was probably worse.
Why provide free coffee if it’s undrinkable?
There was this scene in Breaking Bad that Tim loved. Walter White was in his underground meth lab with his assistant Glen. When Walter wanted some coffee, Glen walked over to this chemistry set where he’d perfected not only the bean-to-water ratio but the temperature and distillation of the perfect cup of joe. With coffee like that, who couldn’t change the world?
Not that Tim would be firing up an RV anytime soon. Things didn’t exactly work out well for Walter, and the Blue Dagger Society didn’t have a crazy cool chemistry set. They did have a magic teapot.
Tim had been in love with the contraption ever since JaKobi brought it out. Coffee anywhere, anytime. He found if he used a coarse grind on the beans and placed them in a steel tea ball, the pot worked better than his coffee maker back home. His problem was he never remembered to bring the fucking beans.
Even Bayaz carried his own tea.
If Tim wanted good coffee, he would have to make a little more room in his inventory. Maybe now that no one was hunting him, he could ditch a few of the spare sets of clothes he kept with him. One or two changes outside of his gear should be enough. He could probably leave the extra stuff behind at the farmhouse. He was sure someone could use some practically new clothes.
Tim didn’t get too many hand-me-downs while growing up unless they came from his father, but his little brother got all his old clothes. He always thought that must be the worst part of being a younger sibling. The best part was probably the little shit’s ability to get away with anything.
After pulling the items he didn’t want from his inventory, Tim folded the clothes so he could leave them in a nice orderly stack. He was pretty sure no one would want used clothes that he tossed around. It’d be like walking into Goodwill and having it look like a laundry basket exploded all over the floor.
It took him a few minutes to pull himself back from thoughts of his old life. He didn’t have to do laundry inside the game, and his clothes repaired themselves, so he only had to buy new ones if he wanted them. One less worry for a cashed-strapped adventurer.
Not that I’m short on funds.
He wondered if the temple had a similar project to the farm in Promethia. It felt like there were still a lot of hungry people. In a world full of magic, it was hard to believe there wasn’t a way to feed everyone at least a basic meal. How much could oatmeal and a little butter cost?
Starting a farm wasn’t something he had time for, but investing in someone who wanted to start one was something he might have to look into. He was sure there were all kinds of players in this game who wanted to do normal things in a new environment. Maybe they could even breed new plants or magical ones.
Xander would have been all over cornering the magical marijuana market.
ShadowLily wasn’t in the room so Tim decided it was time to get up and find something to do. He had an unfortunate habit of letting his mind wander off when he was alone. He’d crack a book for research, that would lead to a webpage, and somehow wind up with him in a chat group at 3:00 a.m. talking to people who really thought Abraham Lincoln was a vampire hunter.
A few moments later, Tim was dressed and heading down the stairs in search of coffee. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that everyone else was already up and making plans for where to start their search. It was nice of them to let him always sleep in, but when the alternative was grumpy Tim, he understood why.
No one liked a grumpster.
Tim could already smell the coffee when he hit the bottom of the stairs, and it wasn’t the cheap stuff. The scent led him to the kitchen like he was Snoopy or Toucan Sam. Either the farm had a stash of some legit coffee, or someone in the group had taken it upon themselves to look out for him.
He had the best friends a guy could ask for.
ShadowLily was in the kitchen, and she had a cute little apron wrapped around her tight leather pants. It was quite the contradiction in looks, and it was kind of making him hot. Not that they had time for any morning action. He could hear the res
t of the group laughing at something in the dining room.
Maybe that’s why people woke up early. Early bird gets the sex and all that.
“Something I can help you with?” ShadowLily smirked as Tim’s eyes moved from her backside to her face.
A blush crept into his cheeks. Sure they were dating, but he felt weird getting caught checking her out so he tried to play it cool. “Just came looking for some coffee, didn’t expect to run into such a hottie.”
“The apron does it for you, huh?” ShadowLily’s smirk stayed firmly in place as she poured him a cup of coffee. “Take this and go wait with the others.”
Tim lifted the cup to his mouth and took a long sip of the delightful drink before extending it for a refill. “You know it’s not the clothes, right? You do it for me. Without you, they’re just clothes.” He kissed her and accepted the top-off.
“Get ye gone, smooth-talker. There are a few things I need to wrap up in here before joining you.” ShadowLily motioned for him to get out of the way so she could get back to work.
Tim didn’t mind her asking him to leave. Truth be told, he was a complete disaster in the kitchen. His major contribution to most meals besides stuffing his face was either monetary or doing the dishes. Not a big deal because every chef in the world appreciated not having to clean up once in a while.
The dining room itself was more packed than Tim expected. Shara and Jim were back, and so was Brother Colton and another man in fighting gear. For the priest to have returned so quickly he must have ridden all night. It made Tim feel kind of guilty for not only getting a good night’s sleep, but sleeping in while everyone was getting ready.
“Ah, just in time.” Brother Colton flashed a warm smile. “The food should be coming soon.”
Jim patted the seat between him and Shara. “We have a plan, and we'll be able to save the harvest.”
“Eternia be praised.” Shara grinned. “For the farm and those who protect it.”
“As for protection,” the fighter next to Brother Colton nearly growled. “My men have secured the fields and might have tracked down the source of the disturbance.”
“Fantastic as always, Sam,” Brother Colton exclaimed as he looked at the large map on the wall.
Sam pointed at the building they were in. “This is us.” He tapped the map again. “This is where you slew the harpy.” Moving his hand toward the edge of the map, Sam tapped another spot. “This is where we think you have to go.”
Tim didn’t bother to ask for Sam’s credentials or why he was so sure this is where they should start looking for Doctor Z. The game had a way of moving players where they needed to be without making them struggle too much. It was fun to find a dungeon. It wasn’t fun to spend three days searching the countryside to come up with bupkis.
“Thank you for all the hard work, Sam.” Tim meant every word of it. They would have spent a good part of the day riding around looking for clues.
The warrior turned. “Don’t mention it. As long as you don’t screw up too badly, this will be a nice little training exercise for my men.”
“We’re not in the business of failing,” Cassie shot back with the casual tone of someone discussing the weather.
Sam locked eyes with her. “My business exists because sometimes heroes fail.”
Before the two could square off for a good old fashioned showdown, ShadowLily and a group of men and women came in carrying trays of food. There were pancakes, eggs, potatoes, biscuits, and some kind of lemon cake that smelled like someone cut a slice out of heaven and served it on a plate.
JaKobi got Cassie back in her seat without incident. Tim smiled to himself. What was it with warriors? It was as if they always had to be the biggest thug in the room. Maybe that was why he didn’t make such a good tank. He didn’t have the right kind of killer instinct to be a front-line warrior.
As the dishes made their way around the room, everyone forgot about the business at hand and dug into the meal. The first five minutes passed in almost complete silence, as everyone ate like they hadn’t seen food in a week. When people finished eating, conversations slowly filled the room. With most of the business already decided, the talk was of more light-hearted matters.
“I’m telling you, fire pong with spiced cider would totally be the best drinking game ever.” JaKobi grinned.
A moment later, a flaming ball the size of a ping-pong ball appeared in his hand, and he tossed it into his water glass. Steam shot from the top of the cup and the flames went out with a wet hiss.
Lorelei winked. “I’m not saying the game wouldn’t be cool, just that it has a very limited audience.”
“What she means is not everyone can throw fire around like it’s nothing,” Cassie added with the air of a woman who’s had this conversation a million times already and knows what’s about to come next.
“If you could create something anyone could use, you might be onto something.” Jim looked at JaKobi’s glass of water. “That’d be just the thing for when we celebrate the fall harvest.”
JaKobi’s face lit up like he’d received a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. “I’ll see what I can come up with.”
A groan escaped Cassie’s lips, but outside of that single noise, she didn’t try and rein him in. It was probably better that way. Some people needed to be allowed to create even when the idea wasn’t perfect. As long as it was a hobby and all a person's money wasn’t going into it, what was the harm? There was nothing wrong with having big dreams.
Even if other people found them a little silly.
Tim smiled as he watched them talk about adding flames to the cups' rims or maybe even hoops you could throw the balls through instead. His fourth cup of coffee had his mind lubricated just right, and he was ready to find out what kind of trouble they would run into today.
The harpy hadn’t been an easy opponent, and he still felt lucky about coming away from that battle relatively unscathed. It wouldn’t make sense to send your strongest monster into the field where it could be captured or killed. Typically, scouts were fast, lightly armored, and easier to kill. If the harpy was Doctor Z’s first offering, they could probably expect much more challenging opponents going forward.
The thought of squaring off against something new and harder to beat was kind of exciting. At the same time, this meant they would have to tone things down a little. It was time to get back to basics. Just like in barbeque when the Pit Master said low and slow, their group would be taking things one step at a time today to avoid any major missteps.
He looked across the table and met ShadowLily’s eyes. Tim could instantly tell that she was ready to get moving. Sitting in one place for too long made her antsy. It was kind of funny—in that regard, they were polar opposites. Tim was happy to stay in one place all day and do a whole lot of nothing. There was always a new game or a new restaurant a click away from making an appearance right where he was most comfortable.
At home.
The love of his life was an adventurous spirit. She liked to be on the move and never stayed in one place too long before being bored. It was funny how being opposites worked for them. ShadowLily could go off and run her assassination business while Tim ate at Joe’s and tended to the healing shack. It let him have the right amount of laziness in his life while still being productive enough to feel like he was contributing. As much as he would have loved to enjoy a fifth cup of coffee, it was time to get the show on the road.
“Sam, I think it’s time you have one of your men show us to our destination.” Tim smiled as he moved his gaze away from his lady to the grizzled veteran.
The man stood and gave him a quarter bow. “Of course. I’m ready to leave when you are. I’ll have a detachment of my men escort us to the perimeter.”
Brother Colton moved from his chair to stand beside Sam. “Keep your men on the farm where they’re needed. Let these folks do the work they’re meant for.”
The priest moved away from the warrior and headed for the door. “It seem
s as though we all have jobs to do. Might as well get started.”
Shara gave Sam a very unpriestly wink. “I, for one, will feel better knowing that you’re around.”
“I’ll have one of my men meet you outside,” Sam stammered before he quickly followed Brother Colton from the room.
Jim rose from his chair not a moment later. “I’m going to join the crews for the harvest today.” He looked over the group. “Thank you for coming.” Without waiting for a response, he left the room.
Lorelei stood and stretched. “So what’s the plan?”
“I think I can answer this one.” ShadowLily gathered herself and scrunched up her face. “We’re going to do things slow and cautious-like.”
“Hey, I don’t sound like that,” Tim griped.
Cassie snorted. “Then tell us, oh wise leader, what were you going to say?”
“Only that there’s nothing wrong with a little prudence,” Tim spluttered.
ShadowLily’s smile grew tenfold in size. “That’s not what you said last night.”
Everyone laughed, and Tim felt his cheeks getting redder by the instant. “Don’t blame me when you die. The old ‘Eternia magically resurrects someone’ Hail Mary only works once.”
“Don’t worry about them, boss. I got your back.” JaKobi hissed as he caught one of Cassie’s elbows. “What...I’m just saying that I, for one, would like some heals in the upcoming battle.”
Tim grinned. “Then you sir, will have them.” He rose to his feet. “As for the rest of you, I’ll be waiting here when you return from meeting your caseworkers.”
“Hey!” the three women shouted at once.
Tim winked. “Please, like I'd ruin my reputation by letting you die.”
The first biscuit took him by surprise, but by the time the third one was flying, he was fleeing from the room.
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