“Don’t mean to bother you miss. I’m Luplut the Beautiful. I’m just a humble man of the faith, visiting wanderers in the forest.”
The goblin ran his fingers through his grey hair dressed up in a coif. The hair on his head was thick and very well kempt, in contrast to the scraggly hairs on the other parts of his body.
“It’s nice to meet such a handsome man of faith,” Sphiel said, choking back a laugh. “What God do you serve?”
Luplut straightened his dirty, sackcloth vest. “I am a follower of Kaput, divine light of the goblins, and his servant, the Deathwalker Ando. I have come seeking donations for our humble organization.”
Donations, Sphiel thought, incredulous. “I’m sorry Master goblin, but I am afraid I don’t have anything to give you.”
Luplut struck what Sphiel assumed was a winning pose, at least to him. It took all of her resolve not to barf.
“Surely, a beautiful young woman such as yourself has a few copper to spare for our divining light.”
“I can assure you, I don’t.”
A hint of anger flashed across the goblin’s eyes. Sphiel’s heartbeat picked up in tempo. Luplut’s fingers slid down toward the hilt of a mace at his belt.
“One should always spare a little wealth for the Gods. If one doesn’t, they might find themselves at the wrong end of the deity's wrath.”
Sphiel’s breath came in short gasps. Her muscles were starting to seize up. This goblin was bigger than the last one and might pose a greater challenge. She didn’t know if she was up to it. Perhaps there was another way to beat him.
Sphiel arched her back a bit and accentuated her ample bosom toward the lanky goblin. Laplut’s eyes grew a little wider.
“Mister Goblin, please. I am but a humble elven woman living out here in the woods. I have nothing to give your majestic god.”
It was stupid, Sphiel knew, but this was fantasy. Perhaps begging like a classic damsel in distress would get him to lower his guard.
Your bluff skill has risen to 1, a little popup window said to Sphiel.
The ends of the goblin’s thin lips quivered upward and his fingers moved away from his mace. “Perhaps you are right. You know, there are other ways to serve the gods.”
“How is that?” Sphiel made sure her breath sounded nice and heavy.
“Well,” the goblin looked to the side, “one thing that brings a smile to Kaput’s face is when the common peoples show appreciation to the stewards of his faith.”
“How would I do that?”
The goblin walked up to the rock and ran his fingers through his hair again. He had an impressively large amount of armpit hair. Sphiel’s heart was hammering against her chest. Having someone she didn’t know in this close of a proximity to her made her want to scream. But this wasn’t the time. She had to keep her cool.
The goblin looked over Sphiel’s body and she thought she saw something jump in his pants. The thought of what it was made her queasy.
“Let me show you,” Laput said.
He reached out for her slender but muscled calf. Just before he placed his hand on it Sphiel scooted forward and kneed the goblin in the face. He staggered back, holding his hook nose.
“Bitch,” the goblin said as a trail of black blood leaked through his fingers.
“Now go away and don’t bother me. I don’t have anything for your god and I don’t have anything for you,” Sphiel growled.
The goblin quickly drew his mace. “I’ll bash your head in.”
Sphiel gritted her teeth. “I’d say I’d beat you ugly, but nature beat me to it.”
The goblin screamed and rushed forward. A trail of black leaked from his nose into his mouth.
Sphiel picked up her dagger and sidestepped the creature as he brought his mace down against the rock. The elf leapt behind him and kicked his back. His face connected against the stone with a crack.
More blood spilled down his face as he turned. His nose was scrunched up.
Sphiel’s heart was beating faster. Her body shook. “Laput, go away.”
The goblin responded by bellowing and charging her again. He brought his mace around in a wide arc. His movements were slow and gave Sphiel enough time to launch another kick to his face.
The blow badly bruised his left eye. He squinted. Sphiel’s knuckles were white as she gripped her dagger. The goblin growled like a rottweiler. The elf hoped the goblin would just leave. He was already beaten to a pulp, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to give up. He charged again.
This time his swing was much quicker. Sphiel swayed back and the head of the mace came within inches of her stomach. The goblin stepped forward again and swung down. This time the elf was ready and hopped to the side with plenty of time to spare.
The battle went on like this for some time. Laput stalked Sphiel around the clearing, swinging his mace, hitting nothing but air.
After several minutes of this, the goblin grew tired. His breath came in heavy gasps as he attacked again, hitting the trunk of a tree.
“Master Goblin, last warning. Leave,” Sphiel said.
The goblin took no heed of her words. He brought his mace forward for one more powerful swing. Sphiel slid back a few inches on her heels as the mace missed yet again. When the goblin completed his arc, she sprang forward and drove her dagger into his heart.
She quickly stabbed the creature three more times before he fell to the ground. He gasped and thrashed a few times as his dark blood drained into the grass. Soon he was still.
Sphiel placed a hand over her heart as if trying to keep it from leaping out of her chest.
You’ve made it to level 2! Good job!
Your skill with daggers has grown to 1!
Sphiel smiled as she closed all of the windows as she took deep, slow breaths. The fear slowly left her but her body still shook. What was wrong? Why was she shaking? Why was her heart frantically pounding in her chest.
She replayed the battle in her mind and she smiled. She was excited. Sphiel had just fought another enemy, a stronger one perhaps, and succeeded. She was still scared, but she knew if another goblin came by, she could kick his ass if he didn’t leave her alone.
In a small pack she found a mirror, comb, some pale looking paste in a jar that might have served as hair cream, more tobacco, 2 silver and 37 copper pieces. This goblin had more than the last, but that didn’t surprise her. She probably wasn’t the first person he scammed out of money.
On each of the items was a humanoid skull with a snake coming out of the eye. Given the goblin’s apparent religious affiliation, it was probably the symbol of his deity. Whoever his God Kaput was, she was certain she didn’t want any of his “divine light.”
Warning: A person outside the game world has entered your playing area.
Natalie was probably worried about her and wanted her to get out of the game. Sphiel wondered what her physical body went through from the exhilaration in game.
SEVEN
Mandy came back into the real world, covered in sweat. Her heart played a frenzied beat against her chest. She took off the VR band and wiped her brow. Natalie’s face was a mixture of fright and concern.
Mandy smiled at her. “Hey sis, what’s up?”
“Are you okay? You were thrashing around like mad. Was something attacking you?”
Mandy told her sister the story of the “handsome” goblin priest and their fight. At the end of the story, Natalie was grinning along with her sister.
“Oh my God, that is freaking crazy. So that fat, ugly goblin hit on you?” Natalie said through small bouts of giggles.
“Yeah, it was so weird. It was like he was trying to charm me out of my money, then he attacked me. I totally wrecked him.”
“That sounds so awesome. I wish I could play now.”
“If you want, you can play and I’ll watch you. I don’t think they’d have a problem since you’re old enough.”
Natalie smiled. It was a big smile, but Mandy could tell it was strained. After
a moment it grew thin. “When you were in the game you started sweating a lot. You were breathing really hard. I wasn’t going to step in, but when I saw you sweating and shivering I knew you weren’t far from having a panic attack. So I shook you.”
“That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
“I know, but…”
Mandy cocked an eyebrow at her sister. “But?”
“It still scares me seeing you like that.”
Mandy entwined and squeezed her fingers together. “It scares me as well. I might be in the middle of fighting off a hoard of goblins when I have a heart attack.”
Worry deepened on Natalie’s face. “What if I can’t pull you out when that happens?”
“The only times you won’t be able to pull me out is if I’m in a fight or if I’m in the middle of a sexual encounter. You won’t have to worry about the second one, but as for the first, we should probably talk to Dr. Braun or Thames about that one.”
“Mandy, the more I see you play this game the less I like it. You always look like you’re getting so worked up. If a malfunction happens I don’t know what I’d do,” Natalie sobbed.
“Just rip the band off of my head then. Do anything you can to get me out. That’s all you can do.”
“But what if you get hurt anyway?”
“Then I do. I know I’m asking a lot of you and this is really painful to watch, but we have to do this. For you, dad, and me. Look, I don’t know if this will be much comfort right now but, I don’t feel as scared.”
Natalie wiped her eyes and sat quietly.
“As I’ve been playing the game, I don’t feel as scared as I did when I went in.”
“You don’t?”
Mandy looked directly into her sister’s eyes. “No, and if I keep going, I think things might get better.”
“How long will that take?”
“I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist, but things are improving. We’ll just have to give it some more time.”
Natalie took a deep breath. “Okay. But if things get worse, I’m gonna tell dad and this will all stop.”
Mandy nodded. “Deal.”
The sisters smiled to each other and embraced. Mandy frowned a little bit. What she told her sister wasn’t exactly true. Things were still frightening, hellaciously frightening. That was something that might not change. However, she had to keep playing. It could help her get better, and for the first time in a long time, she was actually having fun.
EIGHT
The next morning she had a meeting with Dr. Braun. It wasn’t easy to talk to him with her sister absent, but after ten minutes she managed to utter a few syllables that got her point across. They talked about the game a bit and he encouraged her to log on as soon as possible. She promised him she would.
Natalie came home from school early, like yesterday. Mandy put off scolding her for this and asked her to watch her as she played the game. It took a great deal of convincing, but her sister relented.
She had to agree to being pulled out of the game as soon as she showed signs of anxiety. It wasn’t something Mandy was too happy with, but she was happy to make the concession if it meant she could continue to play.
Mandy logged onto the game the next day. Just as she started meditating, she had an encounter with another goblin. She dispatched him quickly, and searched through his belongings. He didn’t have anything of interest, save for a wooden chit with Kaput’s symbol on it. Five minutes after this she got a warning message telling her someone was in her playing area and she logged out. She was only in the game for ten minutes.
The next day, a couple of NPC elves came by for a chat. They mentioned problems with goblins in the area and they were trying to hunt down their source. Mandy spoke with them for a fifteen minutes about the goblins she fought before she got a warning and had to come back out.
The day after, a hungry wolf wanting to make her lunch came around and she succeeded in chasing him off. Her sister didn’t pull her out of the game, but when she had to chase off the wolf again she got the warning popup that was becoming familiar. When she checked the clock after she logged out, she’d been in the game for thirty minutes.
This went on for two-and-a-half weeks. Mandy would enter the game as Sphiel and start meditating. She would focus on the dark calm in her mind. When anything, hostile or not, came into the clearing, she would actively work to keep her nerves tranquil while interacting with it.
On the last day of this period, she managed to stay in game for three hours without getting nervous. In that time, she managed to encounter eight wandering monsters, mostly goblins with the same wooden chit she found on the first, without feeling the slightest bit anxious.
She managed to accumulate quite a bit of treasure as well, at least she thought it was a lot. Altogether she had 12 silver, 348 copper, and a various assortment of weapons, items, and other treasures that ranged from decent to deplorable.
She thought about leaving this clearing. Jaelmuth told her this area was supposed to be peaceful, but it seemed to be some kind of monster magnet. However, she was able to defend it well enough and it was a perfect place to meditate when she wasn’t being attacked.
She was meditating the next day when she heard loud footsteps coming toward her clearing. Sphiel focused carefully on the sound.
These footsteps weren’t typical to the kind she’d heard before. They were loud, giving Sphiel the impression that this creature was bolder than the others she’d faced. Whatever it was, it was large and probably could tear her apart.
Sphiel grabbed a mace and a small, round wooden shield from a pile of armaments she’d taken off dead goblins and dashed behind a tree. She watched in silence. Maybe if the approaching creature wasn’t too big, she could get the drop on it and do enough damage to make it run away.
The thumping footsteps grew louder. Sphiel’s heart began to pump faster, but she concentrated on a vague image of a calming waterfall, and it soothed her senses.
A large and lanky green creature with mangy red hair that fell to its shoulders appeared through the tree line. It wore black wolfskin pelts sewn together to form a rudimentary shirt and breeches, and carried a massive tree branch, in a leather holster, on its back. It stalked over to the pool and knelt. Even on its knee, it was taller than Sphiel. If she had to guess, the creature was probably around eight feet in height.
It scooped water into its large hands and brought them up past its pointed chin, beneath its long and slightly bent nose, and took a drink. Sphiel amused herself by picturing the side profile of the creature’s face as a warped green crescent moon.
The elf stifled a giggle and watched as the hideous humanoid turned its beady black eyes toward the stash of weapons behind the rock that Sphiel normally sat on.
The creature jumped to attention. It drew its massive tree branch and crouched. Small black eyes scanned the area.
Sphiel pressed herself against the tree to blend with the nature around her. She slowed her breathing.
The troll’s eyes landed in the place where Sphiel was hiding and focused there. The creature held the tree branch toward the elf’s hiding spot and rocked its body from side to side.
The elf didn’t move. Perhaps she wasn’t seen? That was stupid, of course it saw her. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Apparently she hadn’t hidden herself as well as she thought. Should she run? This beast looked like it could easily catch up to her. Perhaps she could try talking to it. Maybe she could charm it like she did the stupid goblin.
Sphiel stepped out from her hiding place and stretched out her body. Despite the fact that she was holding a weapon and shield, she tried to make her visage as attractive as she could to the creature.
“Oh great adventurer, it’s so nice of you to come by my corner of the forest. What can I do for you?”
Sphiel’s pearly smile elicited a growl from the creature and it stepped back.
The elf took a couple of cautious steps forward, her heart hammered in her chest. “It’s a bea
utiful day. Why don’t we sit and have a chat. It’s been a bit since I’ve had company. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind taking my mind off of my loneliness for a while.”
The large creature took another step back and snarled, “Stay back.”
It’s voice was scratchy and shrill. Whatever this thing was, it was probably female. So laying on the charm probably wouldn’t work. It was also afraid. Maybe she could intimidate it? Sphiel eyed the size of the big female humanoid and thought that might not be the wisest course of action.
She could try talking. If all else failed she could run like hell and hoped this green giant wouldn’t follow her.
Sphiel lowered her sword and shield to her side. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as strange. Let’s start again. I’m-” her heartbeat quickened her body started to shake. Stay calm, stay calm she told herself. “I’m Sphiel. I live in this clearing. What brings you here?”
“I’m Stinking Shiva, and my business is my own,” the creature said, still keeping her tree branch at the ready.
Sphiel dipped her head. “I understand. I won’t bother you while you’re here, I uh, just asked tha- that you don’t bother me.”
The elf’s shaking intensified. She bit her tongue she focused on being calm. This wasn’t scary, this creature wasn’t attacking her. At least not yet. Oh no.
Her shivering got worse.
Confusion came over the creature’s face. It lowered the tree branch. “Are you alright?”
Sphiel’s breaths came in short gasps and her heartbeat pounded in her ears. At any moment she imagined she’d see the warning popup.
The elf dropped all pretense. “I’m sorry. I-I-I have social anxiety. I-uh-I.”
The large creature put down its weapon and put up its hands. “Long, slow, deep breaths. Close your eyes. Long, slow, deep breaths.”
Sphiel did this and focused on the creature’s voice.
“Count to ten in your head, then count back to one. Keep doing this till you calm down.”
Sphiel had used this exercise many times before. She was afraid the creature might try something while her eyes were closed, but she couldn’t think about that. If she did, things would only get worse. She counted to ten and back again twice before she slowed down.
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