Towns and Towers: A New Land

by Shawn Kass

  “No problem. To tell the truth, things were getting a little boring around here before you arrived.”

  Chuckling, Sam said, “Yeah, well, who knows what we’ll find this time,” as the pair of them left the safety of the town again and walked back out into the fields. Passing the outer gate, they heard the now familiar yell of Martin welcoming them to his town, and Sam silently hoped that they would return safely to hear it once again.

  Chapter 11

  Heading in the opposite direction of the mine, Anna struck out across the open field, skipping the well-worn path entirely in favor of the lush green grass. Watching her confident stride, Sam was sure that she knew where she was going, but it didn’t stop him from asking, “Why don’t we just stay on the path? Won’t that take us west as well?”

  Not slowing down, Anna said, “It would, but the path is not very direct, and we would lose more than half a day trying to follow it. This way is much faster, and we need to get that flower back to Peter as soon as we can.”

  “You know, I don’t want to be the guy that says I told you so or anything, but didn’t we fall into a mine shaft full of giant spiders just yesterday because we were trying to take a short cut?”

  Scowling, Anna said, “That was an accident, but it was the right call. Peter was in trouble, and had we not gotten there in time, he wouldn’t have survived.”

  “I understand that, and we’re doing the same thing today for the same kid, so I get that you want to hurry. I’m just suggesting that we watch our footing this time.”

  “No need,” responded Anna. “There aren’t any mines out this way.” Stopping to shake his head at her logic, Sam noticed something in the grass to his right. It wasn’t very large, but after a few seconds, he saw it move closer, slithering its way through the grass. Unsheathing his new sword, Sam brought the blade up high and then in one fluid motion stepped forward and swung. As he did, he yelled, “Die!”

  Turning around, Anna came running back, only to find Sam standing over Tezukayoshi while he finished off the dead body of a small snake which had been cleaved in two. Looking up from the ground, she met Sam’s eyes and asked, “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I just killed it.” “Did it try to bite you?”

  “No, it was just slithering around.”

  Looking back down to the snake, she asked, “Wait, so it

  wasn’t trying to bite you?”

  “No, I told you, it was just lying there.”

  “Then why kill it?”

  “I just figured it was a good opportunity to test out this

  new sword and get some experience.” Lifting an eyebrow, Anna asked, “Experience? You need experience swinging a sword?”

  After the talk with Mrs. Emirp had gone so

  unsuccessfully that she ended up storming off, Sam figured that there was no way another NPC could understand the true mechanics of the gaming world in which they lived. He had already tried to explain how the experience points they gained from killing things could help them to not only level up but could possibly enable them to learn new skills, and the mage refused to believe him. Now, standing here with the mage’s daughter, Sam had nothing else to add to his argument that he thought would help her to understand any better, so he simply said, “Yeah, you know, since it’s new and all I just figured I’d break it in and see what it was capable of.”

  Shaking her head dismissively, Anna said, “Boys and their toys.” Then after one more glance at Sam’s lizard familiar who had a snake tail hanging out of his mouth like a spaghetti noodle, she turned and walked away.

  Together the three of them continued across the open field for another hour with Sam stopping occasionally to dispatch additional snakes along the way, and Tezukayoshi alternating between eating the snakes and the Devil Cap mushrooms they occasionally came across. All in all the little lizard was making out on this trip with quite a buffet, and they still had a long way to go to reach their goal.

  At one point, Sam tried to get Anna to join in the practice, pointing out a bird that was flying overhead for her to shoot at with her bow, but she abruptly declined and walked off saying, “I see no reason to kill an animal if it is of no threat to me or those I travel with.” By the time they were within sight of the forest line, Sam’s snake count had reached over twenty, and Tezukayoshi was starting to look rather plump about the middle while Anna’s weapon remained clean.

  Approaching the line of trees, Sam noticed that there was no gradual change to the scenery, there was simply the field they had been walking across and then a wall of trees. Back in the real world, something like that wouldn’t be too unusual, but it generally had something to do with people developing the area or using the land for farming. Here where there were no such farms or anything else around, it left the sudden change looking rather abrupt.

  “Do you know how to get through the forest?” asked Sam. “I wouldn’t want us to get lost in there.”

  “The last time I was in here was a few years ago, but I remember there was a path. We just need to look for it.”

  “That wouldn’t be the path we were on to start with when we were back at the town, would it?”

  “It is. I had us skip all of the curves and bends so that we could get here faster.” Then looking past him over his shoulder, she said, “And, just like I said, it’s right over there.”

  Turning around, Sam spotted the path she was talking about and followed her over to the forest entrance. Upon reaching it, he noticed that the light within the forest was much darker than it was out in the open, but that the path continued on for quite a ways before it turned around a tree and disappeared. Looking at Anna, he said, “It looks like the path curves up ahead. Are you planning to cut your way through the underbrush and make your own way, or are we staying on it this time?”

  “Unfortunately, we must stay on the path in here. The underbrush is too thick for us to cut through, and it would only take more time to do so.”

  Nodding in agreement, Sam said, “All right, let’s go,” as they started their way into the dark forest.

  As Sam and Anna began following the path, Tezukayoshi froze in place with an eye on the brush off to their left. Lifting his hand to his sword, Sam stood ready for something to attack, but then to his surprise, the lizard turned its head to look up and then darted off into the undergrowth of the forest. A minute later, Sam spotted Tezukayoshi climbing his way up a tree to where a strange looking cluster of bright red fruit was growing which looked to be a cross between a Daphne berry and a strawberry. The little guy wasted no time tearing into what was clearly some kind of delicacy, but before he could ask what they were, Anna commented, “Does he ever stop eating?”

  “Doesn’t look like it,” Sam joked.

  “Well, as long as he doesn’t try to share anything, I’m fine.”

  “Why? What are those?”

  “Scarlet Agonies. The few people who have accidentally eaten them and survived say that once swallowed, they felt like hot coals with shards of glass were tearing their way through their insides.”

  Looking back up at Tezukayoshi who had already finished off one cluster and was moving onto a second, Sam said, “At the rate he’s going, I don’t think there will be any left for us anyway.”

  Shaking her head, Anna asked, “Do you think we should wait for him?”

  “Nah, he’ll be fine. He can find us when he’s done, or if we need him, I can try calling to him through that mind link thing again.”

  “Okay, if you say so,” said Anna as she moved forward and began to lead the way.

  Continuing through the forest, they made their way around several trees and were almost a solid ten minutes in before Anna found herself staring at the back end of a wild boar. The creature stood nearly three feet high and was in the middle of the path with its head down eating a tuft of grass or a sapling bush growing there. Holding up her hand, Anna got Sam’s attention, and motioned for him to back up the way they had come.

  Remaining quiet,
Sam craned his neck around her to see what had her spooked and began to withdraw his sword, eager to test it out on something better than the snakes he had cut in half so far.

  Shaking her head, Anna waved her hand quickly in front of his face and pointed back the way they had come before she finally took his arm and began dragging him with her.

  When the two of them had finally gone a ways past the last bend in the path, Anna asked, “Are you nuts? That boar is not like those little snakes you killed for no reason on the way here. That’s a wild boar. They have been known to kill men, even the trained soldiers who hunt them. We don’t need to pick a fight with it.”

  Smiling, Sam said, “You’re right, we don’t need to, but the experience would do us some good.”

  “Experience? Can you just stop with all of this experience stuff? What good is experience if you’re dead? Look, we can just wait it out. It will finish its meal, and then we can continue on the path.”

  Frowning, Sam said, “Come on. We took out that giant spider back at the mine, I’m sure we can beat this.”

  “The spider was injured from the fire you set, and you used magic. If you try to use your fireball spell in here, you’ll likely burn the whole forest down with us standing right here in the middle of it.”

  “Okay, so no magic. What if you shoot it with an arrow, and I finish it off?”

  “I told you, I haven’t used a bow in years. I do not want to take the chance of missing, and it deciding to charge at us.”

  “If you miss, then you just try again, or I can run it through with a sword. I’m telling you, we can do this.”

  Exasperated, Anna began raising her voice as she said, “And I’m saying we don’t need to. We can just wait and be safe. Ever since we started this trip, it’s like you’ve been looking for any excuse to kill stuff.”

  Unable to explain all of the mechanics of the game world to her, Sam said, “Yes, I know that’s how it looks, but I promise there’s a reason for it. The only way we are going to get better at using these weapons is if we use them.”

  Shaking her head, Anna said, “I don’t get you, Sam. You say you are just trying to get back home, but you go around killing everything like you’re one of the Tempters trying to pick a fight. I thought we came out here to help Peter.”

  “We did, but while we’re at it, I think we should get in whatever practice we can. Chances are this little quest isn’t going to end up with us simply picking a flower and walking back into town. Things like this never go easily.”

  “Why not?” asked Anna. “You act like you suddenly know how things are going play out. You know, I think you’ve been holding b…”

  Catching sight of the creature coming around the bend behind her, Sam cut her off midsentence and said, “Well, it looks like we don’t have any options now.”

  Spinning around, Anna asked, “What?” before she spotted the wild boar.

  Drawing his sword, Sam said, “It probably overheard our arguing and came to investigate.” Then in more of a smarmy sounding voice, he asked, “Now do I have your permission to kill it?”

  Ahead, the boar dropped its head and began pawing at the ground preparing to charge. After kicking back the third clump of dirt, the beast launched itself, racing forward to take on the two of them.

  As it approached, Anna saw no other option but to nock an arrow in her bow and let it loose towards a spot directly in front of the charging animal. The arrow lodged itself in the creature’s back, forcing an ear splitting screech from it, but rather than turn tail and run, it kept on towards them, now angrier and more determined than it had been before. Nocking another arrow quickly, she let it loose and this one was enough to hobble the boar.

  Taking advantage of the animal’s wounded state, Sam rushed forward and slashed the creature along its side, splitting it open from shoulder to hip in one swing. Looking back at Anna, he said, “Good work.”

  Letting out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, Anna admitted, “Yeah, you too.”

  Returning to their previous talk, Sam said, “Look, I understand you don’t want to kill things without a reason, but I’m telling you that there is a reason. I tried explaining things to your mother back in town, but I don’t think she understood. The fact is, I don’t even know if it works for you since you’re from this place, but I know how things work for me. It goes back to the thing you saw Madame Esmerelda do to my hand. Every time I kill a creature, I gain experience and get stronger. It’s how I turned that simple candle lighting spell into the fireballs which saved us back at the mine.”

  In a more reasonable tone than before, Anna asked, “So you’re saying you have to kill?”

  “I don’t have to, but if I expect to get any stronger, then yes.” Then kneeling down next to the dead boar, Sam focused on the animal’s fur and did a quick search for information. After just a moment, he found what he was looking for and pointed to it as he said, “Look here, Anna. Can you see this writing here? It gives the name of the animal, its level, and lists whatever special abilities it has.”

  Crouching down next to him, Anna looked over the spot he had indicated and said, “I don’t see anything.”

  “You have to concentrate on it. Try again.”

  Blowing out a frustrated breath, Anna shook her head and then looked again at the spot Sam was indicating. She didn’t see anything different for the first few seconds, but just as she was about to give up, a few of the hairs appeared to align themselves into something like a squiggle. Tilting her head, she squinted and leaned in a bit closer until she began to notice more of the marks. Finally, after nearly a minute, she saw what Sam had been talking about and read:

  Lv: 7 Wild Boar, Charge. Seeing the change in her face, Sam said, “You see it, don’t you?”

  “I do,” admitted a confused Anna. “Has this always been here?”

  “Probably,” answered Sam.

  “Why haven’t I ever seen it before, or for that matter, the town’s folk like the butcher or the hunters? Why haven’t they?”

  Shrugging his shoulders, Sam considered this question as well. He had a couple of theories, but most of them centered on the fact that he was there, and he doubted that she would see him as anything different than the NPCs in town. Instead he said, “Could be a couple of reasons. Most people don’t take the time to inspect dead animals like this. I mean, let’s face it. It took you about a minute, and that’s with me pointing it out to you. You really have to be looking for it. Alternatively, maybe some others do see it, but they simply don’t say anything.”

  Looking back over the writing which seemed much clearer now that she knew what to look for, Anna said, “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s just weird though. I mean, why would it be there?”

  “It’s what I’ve been saying. These animals are all worth experience, and by dispatching them, we are getting stronger.”

  Taking a few seconds to consider his words, Anna stood up and said, “I can’t say that I understand everything you’ve said, but I can’t deny what I’ve seen either.”

  Standing as well, Sam said, “Then just trust me when I say that in the long run, taking down these animals will help us.”

  “Okay, so we need to fight them rather than avoid them.”

  “Exactly,” said Sam. Then looking down at where the wild boar had been lying at their feet just a moment ago, Sam pointed and said, “Case in point, this one left us an item and a bit of gold.”

  The item, as it turned out, was a wild boar tusk, and Anna dropped it into her sack along with the gold and her recovered arrows before they continued on their way.

  Following the path, they wound their way through the forest for over an hour, coming across three more wild boars along the way. Each time, they worked as a team to dispatch the creatures with Anna firing two or three arrows into it followed by Sam giving it the coup de grâce. This pattern worked well, and they were able to quickly finish off each of the boars until the last one which fell from two of Anna’s arro
ws alone.

  Nodding at the downed beast, Sam said, “Either you got lucky on that one, or you’re getting stronger, too.”

  “I don’t feel any different.”

  Shrugging, Sam said, “Neither do I, but the only other explanation is that you scored a critical hit, and those are usually pretty rare.”

  “What’s a critical hit?” asked Anna.

  “It’s where you get lucky and hit something extra hard, or in a vulnerable spot where they’ll take more damage than usual.”

  Accepting this, Anna said, “Well, I’m sure that’s all it was then. I just got lucky.”

  Not sure which was the correct answer, Sam let the discussion go and asked, “How much further do we have to go through here?”

  “Actually, not too far. I think the edge of the forest is just another fifteen or twenty minutes away.”

  “Okay, well, how about we sit down here and have a bit to eat while we can? We have no idea what things will be like once we start hiking up the mountain.”

  “Good idea,” agreed Anna as she sat down. “Whatever we eat now will be less for us to have to carry later.”

  “My thoughts exactly. Can you pass me some of that wild boar jerky that we picked up a little bit ago? I was curious as to what it would taste like.”

  Passing him the meat he had asked for, Anna helped herself to one of the prepackaged rations they had bought in the general store, and the two sat quietly eating. It took them several minutes to finish their meal and another few minutes to pack up before they were ready to go. As they finished up, however, Anna’s eyes locked onto a spot behind Sam, and she gasped in surprise.

  Spinning around, hand already on his sword, Sam witnessed the last second of the wild boar’s respawning before it fully materialized and charged. Acting purely on instinct, Sam drew his blade and plunged it deep into the creature’s open mouth.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” responded Sam, as he pulled his foot out from beneath the dead creature. “That was close.”