The hill giants didn't waste any time returning the favor. Both of them swung their clubs at Luke. These weren't normal clubs that you'd find orcs and goblins carrying. The hill giants had massive clubs made of dense wood with nails hammered through them. As Luke was about to find out, they could do some serious damage.
The first giant raised its club high over its head and sent it screaming down at Luke. He tried to move out of the way and managed to avoid a direct blow to the head. But the weighty club struck Luke in the shoulder, one of the nails digging deep into his flesh. -73 HP floated above his head.
The other giant, the one that Luke slashed with his sword, swung his club next. Another direct hit. This one hit Luke in the arm, nearly knocking his sword from his hands. -54 HP appeared above his head.
Mitch was getting better and better at shifting. When he was playing the game on his laptop back in Boston, all he had to do was click a button and his character would start to transform. Sometimes it would happen immediately. Other times it took a little while. But now that he was actually in the game, Mitch had to make it happen himself.
He knew that fear and anger were what triggered his transformations. Mitch channeled his fear of the hill giants, a monster he'd never encountered before. And after seeing them bash away at his friend, he started becoming angry. Within seconds, Mitch started shifting into his wolven self. As soon as the transformation was complete, he got on all fours and ran at the giants.
Stephanie stayed on the road and took out her bow. She grabbed an arrow from her quill, lined it up, pulled back the bow string, and let it rip. Then another. And another. Stephanie shot arrow after arrow, averaging one hit out of every three or four shots. The first hit struck the hill giant that Luke had slashed with his longsword. It hit the giant in the shoulder and -19 HP floated above it. Her second hit struck the same giant, nicking him in the leg. -12 HP appeared above it.
Alyssa, like Mitch, started changing into her animal body. Before long, she was in her lioness form. After unleashing a deafening growl, she ran over to the giants and attacked.
But before the two shifters got over to the giants, they each took another swing at Luke. The first one, he saw coming. The giant raised its club above its head and Luke held his longsword up to defend himself. The club crashed into the sword, sending a vibration up the hilt to Luke's hands. He managed to completely block the first giant's attack. With the second giant, Luke wasn't so lucky.
It swung its massive spiked club at Luke's head. Direct Hit, Head Shot, Triple Damage floated above Luke's body. Then he collapsed to the ground. -397 HP floated above him. The shifters were too focused to notice, but Stephanie saw Luke's identity change. Instead of seeing Arnold69, Level 38, Human Warrior in blue underneath him, the lettering changed to black and read Arnold69, deceased.
Mitch lunged over his friend's corpse and sunk his razor-sharp teeth into the giant's leg. Blood started pouring out and the giant unleashed a loud groan. The wolf shifter continued to attack, biting and slashing away at the massive monster.
Alyssa went after the other giant. Standing up straight, she swung her powerful claws at the giant's face. It blocked the first swing but the second hit the giant right in the neck, slicing it open. Blood began squirting out and Critical Hit, -86 HP floated above its head.
The giants raised their clubs once again and took aim at the two shifters. The one that Alyssa was attacking swung its club at her, striking her right in the chest and sending her flying back several feet. -47 HP appeared above her.
The other giant raised its club high in the air with wide eyes and parted lips. But before it could swing it down at Mitch, an arrow came whipping through the air, right into the giant's mouth. The arrow pierced through the back of its throat, delivering a fatal blow to the giant. It collapsed to the ground, blood spurting out of its mouth. -139 HP, Critical Hit, +214 EXP floated above it.
Mitch turned his attention to the remaining giant. He slashed its arm, then bit into it. -46 HP appeared above the enormous creature. Alyssa swiped her claws at the massive monster, slashing it across the chest. -39 HP floated in the air. The hill giant stumbled around, holding its neck. Every few seconds, -5 HP would float out of the giant's bleeding neck. It knew it was too weak to attack or even defend itself, so the giant turned and tried to run off. It didn't get very far.
Stephanie readied another arrow. She pulled the bow string back, took aim at the fleeing giant, and let it fly. Just as Stephanie shot the arrow, -5 HP floated out of the giant's neck and it collapsed to the ground. The arrow flew over it, just barely missing its head. +214 EXP floated above the giant's corpse.
While the shifters chomped on the giants' corpses, Stephanie retrieved as many of her arrows as she could. Eventually, Mitch and Alyssa shifted back into their human forms. They searched the giants and found a few silver and copper pieces, but nothing else of value. Alyssa cast a healing spell on herself and then joined Mitch and Stephanie. They were standing over Luke's corpse, talking.
“I can't believe Luke's dead,” Mitch said.
“What are we going to do?” Stephanie asked. “None of us are high enough level to cast a revival spell.”
“Maybe there's a healer or shaman or cleric or somebody in Northwind that can revive him,” Alyssa suggested.
“Yeah,” Mitch agreed. “I think that's our best bet. I can't think of anything else to do. But how are we gonna get him to Northwind? He weighs like three hundred pounds.”
Alyssa started excitedly flipping through her spell book. When she found the spell she was looking for, a smile appeared on her face.
“Light as a feather, stiff as a board,” she said.
“Huh?” Mitch asked.
“It's a low-level spell that I've had forever but never used. It makes something that's heavy and flimsy, like Luke, light and stiff. It'll make him really easy to carry.”
“Awesome!” Stephanie said. “Do it up!”
Alyssa cast Light As A Feather on Luke's corpse. The large warrior's body instantly became rigid and light. They picked him up with ease and continued up the road.
The rest of the journey to Northwind was uneventful. They got to the town just after sunset. And when the four friends – three living and one dead – arrived, they were totally blown away. Northwind was unlike any town they'd ever seen before.
Chapter 12 - Northwind
“Hello there!”
“Hi! Welcome to Northwind!”
“Hello and thank you,” Mitch replied and nodded to the two gorgeous women who greeted him as soon as they got into town. They both looked at him directly when they spoke, largely ignoring Alyssa and Stephanie. After he greeted them back, the women smiled and continued walking down the road.
Northwind was a large, spread-out town with beautifully-decorated homes, well-maintained roads, and a male-to-female ratio that they all noticed right away - especially Mitch. It was late in the evening and they didn't see too many people outside. However, almost everyone they did see walking around outdoors was female.
“Good thing Luke's dead,” Mitch said. “Otherwise, he'd be freaking out right about now.”
“I'm sure he'll still freak out when he wakes up,” Alyssa replied. “Maybe we should just leave him like this until it's time to leave town.”
“I don't care if he's light as a feather,” Stephanie said. “I'm not carrying him around any longer than I have to. Besides, we kinda need him.”
“I'm sure we'd all agree that it's nice to have a little break from Luke,” Mitch said. “But Steph's right: We do need him. Let's try to find some kind of healer.”
They carried Luke through town looking for someone who might be able to revive him. The friends passed a weapon shop, a white magic shop, a black magic shop, and several other businesses. Some appeared open. Others were closed for the night. Toward the center of town, they came across an inn called The NorthwInn'd. Right next door was a tavern called The TavInn.
“That's not really clever or funny,” Mitch said, looking up at the sign.
“Nope,” Stephanie replied. “It's not. The game creators really phoned in those name. I don't know why they even bothered to name them at all.”
“Maybe whoever created the names did so at like two-in-the-morning after a long day of writing and they were all out of creative juices for the day,” Mitch added.
“You mean coding?” Alyssa asked.
“Coding. Writing. Writing code,” Mitch replied. “Whatever.”
The three friends looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. After a brief discussion, they agreed to go inside The TavInn to inquire about finding a healer.
The TavInn was about the same size as the tavern back in Lakewind, but looked much larger for two reasons. First of all, it was much cleaner. The tavern in Lakewind was cluttered with barrels, boxes, and lots of trash. The TavInn was spotless. Second, at that time of night, the tavern in Lakewind was always packed. Only about a quarter of the tables at the TavInn had anyone sitting at them.
There was one more thing about the TavInn that stood out to the friends, just like they'd noticed around the entire town: Almost all the patrons and workers were female. With the exception of one male dwarven warrior sitting at a corner table with a young dwarven woman, there were no other guys in the tavern – until Mitch showed up.
As soon as the friends walked in the door, all eyes were on Mitch. Besides the dwarven couple in the back corner, there were two tables with two women at each of them, one table with three women at it, and a few women by themselves scattered around the tavern. They all looked up at Mitch as he entered. Most looked away after a couple seconds, but several kept an eye on the foreign adventurer as he walked up to the bar.
“Hi there!” the barmaid said, enthusiastically. “Welcome to the TavInn. What can I get for you?”
“Hi. We'll be back later for food and drinks but right now, I was hoping you could tell us where to find a healer that can revive my friend here,” Mitch said, pointed at Luke's light-as-a-feather corpse.
“Oh, it might be a bit too late to find one tonight,” the barmaid said. “But we do have several excellent healers here in Northwind. They stay pretty busy with all the mining accidents.”
“Mining accidents?” Alyssa asked, joining the conversation.
“That's right,” the barmaid answered. “Northwind is a mining town. The mines are in the northeastern most part of our quaint little village. Did you come here to mine?” she asked, looking at Mitch. “You can make a lot of coin working in the mines – if you manage to survive with all your limbs intact.”
“Is that why there are so few men in this town?” Stephanie asked, looking around the tavern.
“That's right,” answered the barmaid. “It's sad, but men die down in the mines all the time. This town is littered with the widows of dead miners. They come here hoping to make some money and start a better life for their families. But what they often end up doing is leaving their wives without a husband and their children without a father.”
The barmaid disappeared out back for a moment, then returned to the counter and resumed talking. An attractive young woman sitting at the bar looked over at Mitch and smiled as they're listening to the barmaid talk. Underneath her read [NPC] Bethaniel, widow.
“So that explains some of the disparity,” the barmaid continued. “Many of these women are widows. Others are the wives of miners that are down there now. The men usually leave for several days at a time, sometimes being gone for weeks on end.”
“I see,” Stephanie said. “Thanks for explaining all that.”
“And then,” the barmaid went on, “there are the women that come to Northwind in the hopes of getting together with a miner. Like I said, the ones that survive do very well for themselves. Most miners' wives live very comfortably.”
“Cool,” Stephanie said. “Thanks again for...”
Again the barmaid continued, interrupting Stephanie, “And lastly, you've got your working girls. Men come from all around to work in the mines. Some of them have families back home, some don't. Regardless, all men have needs. And these are the women that satisfy those needs – for a price.”
Reluctantly, Stephanie thanked the barmaid for the third time, half expecting her to keep talking. This time, though, she just said, “You're welcome,” and disappeared into the back.
The woman sitting at the bar who smiled at Mitch a couple minutes earlier looked over at him again. She caught his attention and he looked back at her. The woman motioned for him to come over to her and he did. The other two followed carrying Luke's corpse.
“You guys are looking for a healer to revive your friend?” Bethaniel asked.
“That's right,” Mitch answered. “Are you a healer?”
“Me? No. But I have a good friend not too far away who is. Her doors are closed for the night but, for me, she'd gladly revive your friend. I've helped her bring several people back to life.”
“And you'll take us to her?” Alyssa asked.
“Sure,” she replied, looking down at herself. “It's not like I have anything better to do!”
Bethaniel chugged the rest of her ale and hopped down off her bar stool. She led the friends out of the tavern and they started walking down the street. Along the way, the four of them talked a little bit. Mostly, the friends just asked Bethaniel questions about the town. They didn't find out anything that they thought would be relevant to finding the Orb of Displacement, but did learn a bit about Northwind.
“Here we are,” Bethaniel said as they arrived at her friend's home and business.
It was a well-kept house with a white heart on the door, the healer's symbol. They walked up to it and Bethaniel knocked three times.
“Closed for the night,” a woman yelled from inside. “Come back in the morning.”
“Fayette, it's Bethaniel. Open up!”
The door opened and a petite elven woman poked her head out. When she saw her friend, her face lit up.
“Bethaniel! Come in! I see you brought some friends with you,” Fayette said, then noticed Luke. “Uh oh! What happened to him?”
“He was beaten to death by hill giants,” Mitch answered.
“Yup. I can see that,” Fayette said, looking Luke's corpse over. “Bring him into the other room and lay him down on the table. I should be able to revive him. He's obviously been beaten pretty badly, but I don't see any reason that he won't come back to life. There was no magic involved in his death, right?”
“Right,” Alyssa answered.
They brought Luke's corpse into the other room and laid it down on the table. Fayette gathered up a few items and pulled a book off a large bookshelf. Though Mitch didn't seem impressed, his two female friends both found Fayette to be stunningly beautiful. Both Stephanie and Alyssa felt a little self-conscious since entering Northwind. Neither of them were used to being around so many attractive women.
Fayette entered the room with Luke's corpse, followed by Bethaniel. The healer handed Bethaniel a few items – precious stones, mostly – to place around the body. The friends stood back and let them go to work.
The elven healer opened her spell book and started reading from it. Stephanie recognized the language as ancient elven, though she didn't speak it herself. The incantation went on for several minutes, much longer than any spell the friends could cast. Fayette put her hands on Luke's chest as she read the final words of the spell. When she finished, Fayette took a step back and stood over him, Bethaniel doing the same on the other side. A few seconds later, Luke opened his eyes. The friends all breathed a sigh of relief – even Alyssa.
Luke tried to sit up, but was in too much pain. The healer and her friend told him to just relax. He laid back down, unable to do anything but. As Luke's eyes came into focus, he looked back and forth between Fayette and Bethaniel. Though the warrior was in great pain, a smile started to form on his face as he eyed the two beautiful w
omen standing over him.
“Where am I? Did I die and go to heaven?” Luke asked.
“You're in Northwind,” Fayette answered, then moved out of the way so Luke could see the others. “Your friends brought you here.”
“Good to have you back, buddy!” Mitch said.
“Those fucking hill giants killed me, didn't they?” Luke asked.
“Yup,” Alyssa answered.
Luke started laughing, wildly.
“What?” Alyssa asked.
“You wanna know something funny?” Luke replied. “You know how you kept saying I should heal my arm but I didn't because I wanted it to leave a cool battle scar?”
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