Watcher's Test

by Sean Oswald

  When she left the house, Emily took Jackson and Sara with her and walked the short distance to the adjacent lot where she found a busy beehive of activity. They had agreed to hire all the workers in town who were available to work on their home. It just seemed that that meant all seventy of the loggers in town were working on the project. She had been letting Dave worry about their finances, but she couldn’t help but worry if they would have enough coin. It was just something she would have to talk with Dave about later. It looked like with so much manpower that they were making good progress. The ground had been cleared of all vegetation and was almost completely leveled. The problem was that there were no timbers left in the town until more could be logged.

  After all of the bowing and such was over, she was able to speak to Malcolm who was acting as a sort of foreman. He assured her that the plot would be cleared today.

  “I don’t mean to bother you priestess, but do you know when the woods will be safe enough for loggers to return?” Malcolm asked her with his hand clasped tightly in front of himself.

  “Well, I can speak to my husband. We haven’t really spoken about a timetable yet.” Emily wanted to be able to tell the man the things he needed to hear. “I’m sure it will be very soon, especially since he wants you all out there getting timbers for the house as much as anything.”

  Malcolm bowed his head. “Yes, my lady.”

  It continued to freak her out when the villagers treated her as some sort of VIP. She stood there for a short time longer in awkward silence before excusing herself and walked into the town with the children in tow.

  Earlier, when Dave had assured himself that Emily was fine and only needed to rest, he had left to go out hunting. He wanted to spend a few hours trying to clear more beasts from the field. He didn’t know how long it would take, only that he would need to hunt each day until the beasts of the forest had learned to stay back from the humans. On earth, most animals have an instinctive fear of man, but here in the kill or be killed world of Eloria, the unleveled people of Eris’ Rise were nothing to be feared. Rather, they were easy prey for the beasts. Dave had thought a lot about how to change that. His first option was to simply police the woods himself, but he thought that might take a great deal of time. It also seemed that if he was the only deterrent that the beasts might eventually realize that if they attacked when he wasn’t there that the other humans were still easy pickings. No matter what he raised his Endurance to, he would never be able to be everywhere. So that led him to the second option. He could start taking out villagers and working on power leveling them.

  With that goal in mind, Dave decided a quick scouting mission would be appropriate. He started to leave town when he heard a familiar voice calling, “Dad”. He turned to see that Mira was headed his way at a quick jog. Wearing her elven leathers, she was able to move much faster than when she wore the dress which the village women had made for her.

  “I want to come with you.”

  “Come with me, what do you mean?”

  “Are we really gonna do this, Dad? You know I have increased my Intelligence, right? I’m probably smarter than any person on earth ever.” Mira’s voice took on that teenage disdain.

  “All of those smarts should let you know that speaking to your dad like that is never going to get you what you want. Besides, you know it takes more than a number in a score box to actually have real intelligence.” Dave crossed his arms as he spoke to Mira. Taking on that serious look that she recognized to mean that no amount of arguing on her part was going to get her what she wanted.

  Even with that, she was still tempted to try arguing. She was the smartest one here, after all. Her desire for what she wanted overrode her adolescent desire to push the issue. “Okay, I’m sorry, Daddy.” She adopted a penitent stance and that pouty face that had worked so well for her for the past fifteen years. “I know you wouldn’t be out here if you weren’t going to cross the river, and I want to go with you. I can be useful and I’m not helpless or anything.”

  Dave let out an inner groan as he felt his anger start to dissipate. Emily always told him that his daughters had him wrapped around their fingers, and as soon as she said ‘daddy’ he knew that he was probably gonna end up giving in. He reasoned quickly, also enjoying the enhanced processing speed of his increased Intelligence. Mira was right. She was far from a helpless fifteen-year-old. She would be a useful asset.

  “Fine, sweetie, let’s not waste time arguing about this. I will let you come hunting with me.” Dave then paused for effect. “On one condition. You have to give me our sacred pinky promise that if at any point you are in danger, you will run back and get your mother. You will not stay if I tell you to go.”

  It was Mira’s turn to smile now. They had formed the bond of the sacred pinky promise when she was only five years old. It had started out as her way of making sure that Dad would actually let her get whatever reward he promised her for going to sleep but it had evolved into a personal connection between the two of them. A way that she didn’t have to share her dad with anyone else. For all that she felt so sure of her superior intellect and her ability to manipulate her dad, she still wouldn’t go back on a pinky promise. “Okay, Dad,” she answered simply as she held out her hand and extended her long slender elven finger. They hooked their fingers together and shook them up and down three times both saying, “I invoke the sacred pinky promise.”

  Speaking those words always took Dave back to the early days with Mira when she would say, “I soak the sacky pinky promise.” Now though both father and daughter had come a long way, yet sometimes the old bonds bind the tightest.

  Several hours later, father and daughter were walking in the woods. They had not seen anything larger than a rabbit in the woods. Certainly none of the beasts they were expecting. It was as if all of the larger animals had disappeared or migrated to another part of the forest. Logically, it didn’t make sense. The hunting trip from two days ago should not have been enough to drive away all of the beasts. Yet, there was no indication of any lynx, hounds, bears, or even treants. Both of them were a little disappointed.

  At least it had given Dave a chance to try out his Tracking skills. He did find a number of trails from larger creatures, but his skill wasn’t high enough to let him know how long ago the tracks had been made. He was guessing that it had been more than a day but couldn’t be sure. The odd thing though was that over time a pattern began to emerge in the tracks that he found. They all seemed to lead in one direction, deeper into the forest. The various tracks converging and becoming a tighter and tighter path, the deeper into the forest they went. Soon the trail was obvious enough that even Mira could follow it. The underbrush had been pushed down and the evidence of many footprints were on the ground all overlapping.

  Finally, they came to the end of the trail and in front of them, they saw not a cluster of animals, but instead a small hillside exposed by erosion. That wasn’t really anything out of place in the forest, but what was out of place was the doorway that was in the side of the hill. It wasn’t a cave mouth but rather well-worked stone, seamlessly fit together as if it has been poured into place. It was about eight feet high and perhaps twelve feet wide at the base, but it narrowed at the top to no more than eight feet. Both of the sides slanted inward to create this effect. There was no door hanging within this obvious entry. Many questions crossed both of their minds. First off, who would build something out here that was this much more advanced than the construction they had seen in Eris’ Rise without putting any sort of door or barrier in place? They couldn’t find any indication that there ever had been a door at all, just the open mouth of stone.

  It was dark inside and even Mira’s half-moon elf nature did not enhance her vision enough to see more than thirty feet into the cave or tunnel or whatever they were calling it. Based on what they could tell without crossing the threshold, the walls inside were also made of the same clearly worked stone, which was smoother than it had any right to be. All just plain gra
y stone so perfectly fit together that they couldn’t see a way for it to be made with the level of technology they were aware of in Eloria.

  Once logical assessment failed to provide an explanation, the inner gamer in Dave spoke up. Eloria was a world based upon game rules. Hmm. Well, what could be more game-like than a dungeon? No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than Dave felt a rush of excitement. Dungeons were where all the best XP and loot were found in almost every game he had ever played. The only thing better than a solo dungeon was the big raid dungeons that required numerous people. A part of him started to immediately wonder what type of dungeon this would be. He had already decided it couldn’t be anything else.

  While contemplating the best course of action now and struggling between pragmatism and jubilant excitement, Dave almost didn’t see the flicker of light on the ground as the wind blew a tree branch aside and let the late afternoon sunlight fall upon the ground near the entrance. There it was, a glittering piece of crystal on the ground. Dave bent over picking it up and examined it. It was clear and seemed to just be a plain bit of crystal about two inches long and ¾ inch wide. He immediately shoved it into one of the pouches of his pack but had noticed a certain resonance in it as he had briefly held it. It was something that bore more investigation later, but right now his mind was consumed with the existence of the dungeon in front of him.

  After explaining his theory to Mira, she began to share in his excitement. She might not be a gamer, but she had already become addicted to leveling up and wanted to continue progressing. The idea of getting more magical items only made her want it all that much more. After a bit of discussion about precautions and with a promise to one another that they were only going to step in briefly to look around before returning to town. A proper trip into the dungeon wasn’t something to be done on a whim, it was something to be planned out in more detail. Yet here they were. Dave grasped her hand in excitement, swinging their arms between him as he stepped forward with a boldly spoken, “Geronimo!”

  Warning! You are about to cross into the Tomb of David Nelson Zone. This zone is a dungeon zone. Dungeons are extremely dangerous, and the level of the surrounding zones does not necessarily reflect the zone of the dungeon. Do you wish to leave the Merkwood Zone? If so, please note if you want to receive future warnings.

  Unbeknownst to either father or daughter, they were not the only ones outside of the dungeon. Another set of eyes were watching them. Small, beady eyes filled with hostility and fear. Krinnk saw the big man who gets bigger and the scary fire elf woman both standing outside of the dungeon. They just kept staring at it. Krinnk almost began to believe they had fallen asleep standing up when suddenly the man grabbed the hand of the elf, and they both disappeared into the mouth of the dungeon.

  Krinnk felt a rush of excitement. Now, now was his chance. The pretty little elfling would not be so hard to reach with the two most scary ones out of the way. The other elf woman was scary too, but these two had been the ones he worried about the most. Now he could go and get his prize. His patience was going to pay off. This was the lesson that all goblin scouts learned, painfully and repeatedly. The strange thoughts in his mind returned, and he longed to get the little elfling. He really didn’t understand exactly what he wanted her for. He knew he wanted the shiny she wore, and he knew that he liked the way she looked, but he didn’t know why. She was really more food than he could eat by himself, and yet something about her made him want her.

  Too much thinking. Now was time for running. So despite the fact that there was more sunlight than he liked, Krinnk turned toward the village where the little elfling was staying. He would be able to travel the five miles or so in a little more than an hour given the need for stealth once he crossed the river.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “We are all pieces moving upon the board in a game of such scope as to be outside of our understanding.” —Alucien the Heretic, excerpt from his pre-execution monologue

  The city council of Eris’ Rise was meeting around the time of second sunset on 5th Day. It had been a whirlwind of a week and there was much for them to discuss. They waited until both the newly appointed sheriff and his priestess wife were otherwise occupied. The former with a hunting expedition across the Seinna and the latter with providing nutrition tips to many of the mothers as they were preparing meals. It wasn’t that the Nelsons, as strange as they were, were not welcome in Eris’ Rise. Truth be told, they were likely the only reason that Eris’ Rise had a future at this point, but they were still strangers and in some things the city council had to keep its own counsel.

  Talvenicus’ thoughts had wandered off a bit but he refocused in time to hear Jarvis saying, “...So I’m not saying that we can’t trust them, only that they are very different, and that even if they mean well, what they consider to be doing right by us may not be in our best interests.”

  Before the mayor could respond, Gertrude jumped in, “As many as a dozen or more of the men in this town would be dead or crippled were it not for the blessed Daughter of Redemption. I can’t speak much about our new sheriff, but his wife is an angel sent directly from Shanelle as far as I’m concerned.”

  “What do you think, Conrad?” Talvenicus reacted quickly before there could be any more heated dispute between the teamster and the herbalist. Jarvis was the council’s resident cynic and Gertrude might as well have been an apologist for Emily. The blacksmith, on the other hand, was slow and deliberate, but neither cynical nor overly optimistic.

  “Hmmm,” he began, the deep rumbling sound coming out of his barrel of a chest. “What I have seen of them both, speaks well for them. I’m not saying that we should powder their backsides for them, but clearly, they are doing all they can to make things better for all of us here.” His somber gaze went from the herbalist to Jarvis. “You should be thrilled that they are here. With the money that he seems to be willing to spend, you will be able to keep your wagons busy going from town into various cities in the duchy for all of his requests. And you don’t even have to wait for the tree harvesting to begin again.”

  “I think you take my words out of context. I am only saying that we should take things slowly. My gram always used to say, ‘Open arms without open eyes leads to broken hearts.’ I just don’t want us to get our hopes up or become too dependent on them.”

  “Well spoken, all. I can tell you from my discussions with Dave and from what little I have overheard between the two of them, when they aren’t speaking in Elven, that Dave really wishes to move onto a bigger city but that he is following the lead of his wife and has agreed to settle here at least until the little one is grown.” Talvenicus sensed that the moment of a possible fight had passed, and so he sought to bring the discussion home.

  The meeting continued on for some time until a boy of no more than ten burst into the meeting saying that the sheriff had been injured and asking if anyone knew where the holy priestess could be found.

  Letting your excitement get the better of you was such a noob move. Dave knew that. He knew that if he rushed into a new dungeon in a game without studying and learning everything he could about it beforehand, he would be ridiculed by his guildmates and friends. Worse, it could result in a wipe of the team and the loss of hours of gaming time and effort. These were the thoughts going through Dave’s head as he looked down the inky black hallway which constituted the beginning of the dungeon zone known as the Tomb of Dave Nelson. Duh, as if he ever should have zoned into a place with that name. This was an inexcusable gaming mistake made in the excitement of finding the first dungeon he had encountered. What was worse was that he had brought someone else into the dungeon with him.

  As serious of a gaff as this would have been in a game, Eloria was no game. It was a world far more brutal. A failure here could result in real death, not just the loss of some pixelated gear or time spent gaming. Then, as if to trumpet to the world the depths of his error, he felt the hand he was holding squeeze his hand. He turned his head and saw the beau
tiful face of his precious daughter. So many decisions first on Earth and even more so now on Eloria had been made solely so that he could protect his family and here he was rushing in like a fool with his daughter in tow.

  “Sweetie, I’m sorry.”

  Confusion obvious upon her face, Mira asked, “Sorry for what, Dad?”

  Dave didn’t answer immediately. He let the moment of silence serve to punctuate the gravity of his words. While pausing he studied Mira’s face. It was a face he had seen for the last fifteen years. The same smile that had won his heart over before she could speak a word. Yet there were differences. Her half-elven nature made her appear more cultured, refined. Higher cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes, and the perfectly smooth dusky toned skin made her a beauty too perfect to be real, at least to his earthborn eyes. She almost looked more like a doll than a person now. Part of that was the transformation when they entered Eloria and part of it had been happening as she added points to her Charisma. Eventually, though Dave had to stop searching her face, a face he used to stare at as she slept when she was but a baby in the crib. Mira was a smart and capable young woman and since coming to Eloria, he had continually been impressed by how well she was adapting. Heck, her power here was pretty terrifying. None of that mattered though. She was still his daughter and he was still the one who was supposed to understand a world with ‘game-like rules.’ So finally, he said, “We shouldn’t have come here. We don’t know what we will be facing in here, and the name alone should indicate that there is some animus here toward us. Well, at least toward me.”