Codename: Freedom: Survive Week One

by Apollos Thorne

  “Do all members get a fashion coordinator?”

  “No. I’ll charge everyone else. You saved me, so I have to be nice.”

  “Makes sense.”

  We arrived at a side road not far from the front gate where a merchant and his son had three different carts set up. The traffic here was slower, but they had a better quality selection than any merchant I had seen.

  The merchant's name was Henry. His son’s name was George. They both were laidback, letting us browse. Henry sported a full beard and wore a nice off-white tunic, but had the sleeves rolled up revealing sailor tattoos. It was the anchor that gave them away. His son was dressed just as nicely, without the sleeves rolled up.

  “This is the best place to sell,” Victoria said.

  I was going to do something that I never would have done before. My play style had always been with a single sword and a strong magic foundation. But now? I had been using a spear and shield out of necessity. It was time to either completely commit to this new play style or change to my old one. After facing the hobgoblin, I didn’t really have any other choice.

  I was at 94% capacity of the 200 lbs. my inventory held. By the time I was done unloading everything, I had a total of 1 gold 17 silver 94 copper. Almost 2 gold in total.

  Their item qualities were fairly vague. The different levels went as follows: Low Quality, Average, Fine, and Superior. The biggest issue was that there seemed to be some overlap or difficulty with items that were close to two qualities. Most junk was Low Quality but could be used for a time. It was more likely to break and didn’t hold much of an edge. Average was used, but functional, and had a lot more life left in it. It could hold a good edge. Fine was either brand new, or an item of rare quality. It would endure longer and had a sharper edge than normal. Superior was just that. It would hold an edge that surpassed what was normal and had a tendency to stay sharp. Armor was thicker with enhanced quality made by a master.

  Except for my extra thick leather vest of superior quality and two padded leather greaves to protect my shins, the only thing I didn’t sell was my gemstones. There was also a fine leather cuisse, or thigh protection, I saved from my inventory before selling the rest. I wouldn’t find anything better for some time.

  Wading through a crate of arm guards I found two different colored bracers that fit my arms perfectly after a little tightening of the lace. They cost me six silver for the pair and were of fair quality, between average and superior.

  I spent the money on a good iron helm, a bit better than average. This was really good for an iron helm considering it reached down to cover my neck. It had a brim to shade my eyes, but an open face that wouldn’t limit my vision terribly. There were visors pointing down over my ears, and a curved bill over the back of my neck. It was eight silver in total.

  It was time to get serious. There was a large, round, bronze shield on display hanging from the corner of their overhead tent. Because of its size, it was for sale for 15 silver. It was big enough and of superior quality, so I could literally hide behind it like a bronze tank. I had to try something.

  “Question. Do you buy these?”

  I held out one of the small emeralds.

  “Sure do. Give you a silver for each one you find.”

  “Would you trade the shield for ten of them?”

  Retrieving the stones I held them out before him.

  Seeing him hesitate was a good sign. Either the shield was a little overpriced, or the stones were worth more than he said. After my browsing for the day, I was sure the shield was worth the price, probably even on sale.

  “I couldn’t do a direct trade, but throw in five silver coins and I’ll add something with the shield.”

  “What about this?” I held out another emerald.

  “Do you have another?”

  “Deal,” I said, shaking his hand that was as tough as any leather.

  The shield was surprisingly light. He added a small bottle of liquid to put on the shield to keep its color and a small wooden box with different textured cloths to polish it.

  “You can use this on any metal. It keeps it shiny and protects from rust.”

  The bracer that was made from softer leather worked perfectly for what I had in mind. It added extra padding between me and the shield. This would hopefully help protect my arm from things like giant clubs wielded by hobgoblins.

  Grabbing two additional spears as Peter requested, I was able to depart much better armored and with 1 gold and 3 silver coins left.

  “Ready to do some real shopping?” Victoria asked.

  “No.”

  “Very funny.”

  She led me to a small building with clotheslines strung on the roof to either side of the entrance. Fabrics of different colors and patterns hung down in long sheets. Inside, three walls displayed clothing from ceiling to floor. A smell of lime detergent cleared my sinuses. Many of the clothes overlapped causing the illusion that the clothing was a collage of different pieces making up a colorful whole.

  Victoria smiled to the crane-necked tailor standing mid-room, his arms folded behind his back, wearing a suit jacket with a tail.

  He nodded to her like an old friend and waved us back. Stepping through the room, a door opened to a back room half the size of the first. Drool sat at a smooth wood desk, a piece of fabric hovering a few inches off the surface. Deep in concentration, she pulled at the fabric and it grew or shrunk at her fine movements. It wasn’t fabric at all but a hologram design program that allowed players to customize clothing.

  So this is how crafting works.

  Without interrupting Drool, Victoria sat at the only other desk, which rested on the opposite side of the room. Though fashion was far from something that interested me, I still would have liked to experiment with the crafting system. I needed to make some time for it.

  “Measure,” Victoria said, flicking a seemingly empty hand at me. Her eyes examined me from head to toe, obviously seeing something I was blind to.

  A hologram of a leaf green tunic, long-sleeved and with a v-neck, appeared before her. Clicking it twice, it expanded or shrunk in size at different places. With a nod, Victoria grabbed the shirt a final time, the item coming to life as she handed it to me.

  Fine V-neck Tunic

  Light Green

  “For cold nights.”

  She didn’t wait for me to thank her or have me try it on. Turning back to her work, another shirt appeared; this one without sleeves. It was the same green, but just like Peter’s shirt, it had different color trim at the armholes and collar. With a few touches it was finished, and she handed me three copies folded up and stacked on top of each other.

  3x Fine Tank Top

  Light Green

  Still, she wasn’t finished. Next, forest green pants appeared before her, two pairs she handed to me after some tweaks. They were much thicker material than the shirts, but still cotton.

  2x Fine Trousers

  Dark Green

  Finally, a hooded cloak, much roomier than the other clothing, appeared before her. She took more time with this garment than all the others, sizing it manually, not letting the design program interfere.

  Fine Cloak

  Dark Green

  Standing, her nose wrinkled with her grin. She was up to something.

  I placed everything into my inventory.

  “You don’t have to undress to try something on. Open up your inventory and character sheet. It will allow you to add and remove equipment. You can even stack it.”

  “Ah, I was looking forward to a show,” Drool said, now standing behind me.

  I nearly jumped out of my clothes at her words.

  “Don’t be afraid.” She chuckled. “In my experience boys enjoy it more without their clothes.”

  “It depends on the outfit,” Victoria replied.

  “That’s true.”

  They both laughed, as I felt like I had been transformed into a slab of steak with two wildcats fighting over me.

 
“I finished the order,” Drool said.

  “Oh. Let me see.”

  Leaving me to myself, the girls huddled around Drool’s desk.

  I decided to put my new clothing on. Too bad I couldn’t have a bath first. Dragging my leather vest from my character sheet, it disappeared from my shoulders into my inventory. The short-sleeved vest and pants I dragged over the top of my dirt browns and they replaced what I was wearing before my eyes, reminding me this really wasn’t real, but a virtual world.

  My curiosity was piqued after I had stood there a few minutes. Inching up behind the girls to see what they worked on, Victoria spun around, her hand to my chest stopping me from getting closer.

  “It’s rude for boys to spy on a girl at work. Stay back until we are finished or I will let Drool have her show.”

  Her eyes turned in as she grinned like an innocent cat demon.

  Chapter 12 – Do You Hear That?

  Meat juices gushed into the back of my throat. The Salisbury steak was a perfect medium. Homemade ranch dressing drenched my plate. Our waitress wasn’t shy about letting us help ourselves. Sunk deep into my seat I listened to the conversation of my older group members. Enough work had been done today to allow me to slurp up every bite.

  I sat between Oliver and Kline, who both had the same idea. We were mostly quiet, only Oliver was disciplined enough not to submerge in his chair.

  Peter and Victoria picked at their food between comments. Harrison and a few of his group members had joined us.

  With the lull of a lullaby, a lute and flute sung slow, contemplative tones. It matched the hushed conversations going on in the tavern that night. The earlier attack had sobered most. No one doubted the danger we were in now. We were in full-fledged survival mode.

  Moments ago I had rebuked myself for not remembering my followers and why I was here. Checking my fan page had settled any concern I was doing something wrong. 52 million people were following me. Eating myself silly was the least I could do to celebrate. After taking some selfies with my new gear, I didn’t know if it was exhaustion or elation that returned me to a relaxed stupor. It felt as if I was floating about looking through someone else’s eyes.

  Wink nipped a bite of steak from my palm, her tail thunking against Kline’s chair. His pup stood on its hind legs begging for food.

  “So this mayor of Willingham is willing to sell you the merchant’s home for a fourth of the normal price? I’m assuming there’s a catch.” Harrison said, licking gravy from the whisker at the side of his mouth.

  “The real catch is it’s a terrible location. It’s near the wall and far from the gate. I talked him into letting us rent it instead.” Peter replied, his hands intertwined, tapping rhythmically at his bottom lip. “It should at least be safe. There were only 20 full-time guards in Willingham, who are little more than police, but there are at least a couple thousand players. The distance between us and the gate makes it very unlikely any attacks will get to us quickly.”

  “It will do for now. We’ll help with rent if we can store goods there as well.”

  “That will help. By the end of the week, I hope to get the 30 gold to put a down payment on the building we found. It will be perfect for our plans.”

  “Great plan, missy,” Harrison said, still chomping his food and turning to Victoria.

  “Thank you, Harry,” she replied, using the name he insisted she call him.

  “You get the building, and I’ll make us a safe that would take twenty thousand goblins a week to break into.”

  “With that out of the way, the only thing to do is to get some food and go join the defense,” Victoria replied, sitting forward and smoothing her skirt.

  Still nervous? Ever since we returned from shopping the weight of whatever was bothering her had settled back on her shoulders.

  “Not tonight. We can help man the gate during the day tomorrow. Besides—” Turning back to Harrison, Peter said, “If you are willing, I would like to put together a large group and go find out where these goblins are coming from.”

  “I was going to suggest the same if you didn’t. Count us in.”

  Those who hadn’t really touched their food took this as their cue. The chewing of food and ringing of silverware was inching me toward sleep.

  Peter, Victoria, and Oliver left the table first, heading straight to the house we were renting. It was April’s old house, a cabin with two bedrooms, a living room and kitchen. The size was impressive for one person.

  “Just so you know, if you are waiting until I’m not suspecting to steal my food, I’m onto you,” Kline said, staring up at the ceiling, his hands resting on his slowly rising chest.

  ”I’m too tired to steal food,” I replied, not wanting to get up to leave with the others.

  “You’re not going to get me that way. I see through your act.”

  “You don’t even have any food on your plate left to steal.”

  “You won’t fool me with your fancy arguments. Food thieves are the worst kind. Except for those gear thieves. They should be hunted down.”

  “Gear thieves?”

  “Yeah. Touch a man’s threads and get turned into mustard! A guy has got to look good.”

  “Mustard?!”

  Looking from the ceiling, his eyes went wide meeting mine. “That is what I call a defensive maneuver. I distract with my incredible wit so that I can eat my food before it’s taken.”

  “What about Lulu. She took plenty of your food.” Lulu was his pup’s name. As best as I could tell he had picked the little wolf to have an eating partner.

  “Girls don’t count.”

  “That’s sexist.”

  A shriek skirted across the floor as Kline’s chair flew back. He stood over me, looking down his nose.

  Getting used to his offended act, I cringed sarcastically in fear until my nostrils flared.

  “Yes, it is. Just remember, some girls might want you to treat them as equals, but they aren’t equal, they are better than you! My rule is to treat all women with manners, whether they like it or not!” Rolling his shoulder back, he stretched, reaching to the ceiling. He nodded with finality as if what he had just said was the most important thing that had ever been said.

  Shaking my head, It’s time. I stood and stretched.

  ***

  Exiting the tavern and wading through the semi-busy inn lobby, we left to catch up with our group. Whether we caught them or not right away wasn’t my concern. We knew where the house was.

  A pleasant chill settled on my cheeks as we met the night air. The aroma of grilled meat lessened as we moved on. I almost wanted to go back for another bite that would never fit into my stomach.

  We turned from the row of taverns and inns to join the main road leading to the village gate. It was still busy with most traffic leading to the front of the city for tonight’s defense. We headed against traffic. With the front gates now under the player’s control, they would be closed most of the night but opened for players joining the fight.

  I was torn between joining the defense and staying with my group. The hunt for the goblin spawn point, whatever that might be, would hopefully be a worthy substitute for my fans tomorrow.

  Keeping to a major side road, we turned, heading north to the housing district of the village. There was no real partition between sections of the city. They were fairly blended, but most businesses were mid-city and east toward the gate. South held the hotels and taverns, though some of the biggest taverns were mid-town. West were city businesses, town hall, department of housing, and the village bank. I hadn’t ventured there yet.

  The walk was a long one, but the night chill woke me enough to get me out of my own drowsy musing. I looked up at the night’s sky. We were at war with goblins, my back had been ground into powder, a girl with an overly sensitive sense of responsibility for things she couldn’t control kept getting into trouble, and even though I suspected I’d struggle to get some sleep, I took that moment to gaze up in awe. I was in a virtual
world and it was hard to remain consciously aware of that. There was nothing in the world that gave it away except for a few unnatural gaming systems that mimicked augmented reality pretty well.

  “We have to be there tonight!” Victoria’s voice carried. We were less than a block away but hadn’t rounded the last corner to our home for the night.

  “You ran into danger today without anyone at your side,” Peter replied.

  Kline and I halted.

  “Lucius was there!”

  A nudge from Kline’s elbow gained my attention. He winked.

  “And you were depending upon a man who had his back broken twelve hours earlier.”

  “I told you he was fine.”

  “Yes, but you hardly know him well enough to make that determination. Still, you bet your life upon his recovery. I promise you, at the least, he is currently second-guessing everything he does. It’s impossible to know how he will react. It could be months before he’s fully recovered, if he ever is.”

  How encouraging.

  “Still. If I am going to lead, I need to be there tonight to fight with my people.”

  “No!” Peter said, raising his voice for the first time since I met him. “Victoria. You let your emotions determine your actions. Taking the initiative tomorrow to search for the goblin base will be enough. They will see it and respect you. From now on I don’t want you going anywhere unless Oliver and I are with you. Do you understand?”

  Hesitation.

  “Fine.”

  The commotion ceased. A door opened and shut.

  Kline and I turned the corner.

  “He’s right, you know.”

  “Yeah. I hope she doesn’t run off like that again.”

  “No, I mean about you getting hurt. You did well.”

  “Eh. Thanks.”

  “I had a fight against this guy that wasn’t even really that good. It should have been an easy victory. Early in the fight, I threw a standard shin kick while still trying to figure out his rhythm. My shin caught his knee just right and snapped in two.”