Farmer

by Tom Larcombe

  “So, we tell the other players around here that Terrod and Sombra are trying to stir up the goblins to raid the Meadowlands?” Allie asked.

  “Yup,” Karl said, “plus point out that one already came in this far so their campsites are in danger, as are the new accommodations and food that's been made available.”

  Tiana held up a hand.

  “It's a good plan, but I think it needs one change,” she said.

  “What's that?” Karl asked.

  “Don't go around telling everyone that, they'll think you're just trying to build animosity towards those two. Instead, I want you two to talk about it, loudly, while Eddie sells his food tonight. Also while he's renting out rooms. Let the other players overhear it instead of being told it, and you can be sure they'll repeat it and pass it along.”

  “Ooh, that's evil. I like it,” Karl said.

  “Never underestimate the power of gossip,” Allie added.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie kept himself busy. He had to run up to the farm to get some vegetables, and he took the cart so he wouldn't have to walk it. Lucky went with him, running alongside the cart and occasionally dropping off the road to return with a bunny a bit later.

  He wasn't sure if he had enough meat for the night, but at the same time he didn't feel like he had enough time to hunt. When he'd mentioned that, Allie had offered to take Karl and go looking for some deer. He'd accepted the offer gratefully just before hopping on the cart.

  When he got back with the produce he busied himself with fixing up the food stand better. By the time he was done, he'd picked up another point in carpentry and had a solid little building with the fire pit a few feet out the back door.

  Allie and Karl had come back with a deer while he'd been building so he had plenty of meat for the evening. At their request he quickly built a small picnic table and a few benches near the fire pit.

  “A prep area for meats, plus somewhere for us to sit and complain loudly later on tonight,” Allie had said when trying to convince him.

  Finally he started selling for the day. Allie and Karl were talking loud enough that he could hear them inside his booth and when Tiana came along and started talking about the attempt to burn the new bunkhouse down, she was even louder. There was no way his customers could not hear them, but he had no idea how they were reacting to it until later on.

  When he shut down for the night, Dominic was there talking with Allie and Tiana. From what Eddie could hear the wizard was apologizing to them.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Aaron groaned. He'd thought he'd have a more regular schedule by taking the lead position for the new testing, but he'd already put in ten hours today and wasn't even close to being done.

  Parts were scattered around the two Mark III pods that contained Eddie and Karl. He was sure they'd agree, but he still had to go in game to talk to them. The other four, he was just as sure, were going to leave as soon as possible so he hadn't gotten parts for those pods with the rush order he'd made. Those parts would be along in a few days.

  Because I bet I can find four more people to volunteer for this. Especially with the pay rates I can offer. Although half of the people I'm thinking of asking would probably do it just for the free long term immersion in Light Online.

  He sighed heavily as he picked up his suit and started putting it on.

  This is it, I'll do this then everything else can wait until tomorrow, he thought. There's nothing that can't wait. I'll do the four that I think are going to turn me down first, then go talk to Eddie and Karl.

  ~ ~ ~

  When everything had settled down, Eddie looked up at his group.

  “It worked,” Tiana said. “I could hear people talking about it earlier on. Looks like Terrod and Sombra weren't very popular to begin with. If they try to hang around the other players now they'll get a cold welcome.”

  “What about Dominic? I saw him talking to you earlier,” Eddie asked.

  “He was apologizing for having no backbone when the other two were harassing us. Said they threatened to find him again once he was over level twenty and in an appropriate zone, then just kill him over and over if he tried to interfere. He's a bit of a coward when it comes to other players, but really good against mobs.”

  “So a good player who hates PvP?” Eddie asked. “I can relate, I'm not too fond of PvP myself, but I can handle it if necessary.”

  “I was thinking we should ask him to fill out our group, especially if we're heading into the Forest of Fools,” Allie said. “It would be good to have a magic based DPS. I'm not bad at it with my bow, but since we don't have an actual tank, dropping things fast is going to be our best bet.”

  “What are the odds of finding a tank?” Eddie asked.

  “Not good, not for running during the day anyhow. There just aren't as many players active during the day and most of the ones around then are long term immersion types that already have a group.”

  “Damn, somehow I don't think fifty-one health is going to let me tank,” Eddie said.

  Allie snickered.

  “Well,” she said, “you could tank for two or three hits at least, just not very well. You don't even have a shield.”

  “Well then, I think the first thing will be to get Karl and I up to a level where we're more useful to you two,” Eddie said. “But definitely the goblins. We need to keep an eye out when we're in the forest, see if we can find any traces of Terrod or Sombra. If they sent a goblin after us they've got to be in there somewhere.”

  “Umm,” Tiana said, “You realize that the forest is massive, right? I don't think anyone's ever bothered to explore the whole thing. They get to a high enough level and just move on. Once you're over level fifteen, there isn't a lot of experience available in there.”

  “Wait a second, I thought that with Light Online open for a year everything had been explored,” Karl said.

  Allie shook her head.

  “Nope, you didn't read all the documentation for the game, did you?”

  Karl shook his head.

  “Just the basics, I figured if there was anything else I needed to know for my job, they'd tell me.”

  Eddie chuckled.

  “Yeah, I thought that too,” he said. “So much for trusting our employer, right?”

  “The point being,” Tiana interjected. “Light Online is designed to expand almost on its own. When players start entering a zone that's on the border of the content it currently has, the AIs design a new zone to connect to it, then they submit it to human oversight and tweaking, then the new zone is added in. So it's not like anyone can explore the whole thing.”

  Allie took up the thread of conversation.

  “Which means that players don't tend to stick around lower level zones near the center of the game. They're constantly trying to push the boundaries and find new things. So no, the Forest of Fools hasn't been fully explored and finding Terrod and Sombra might not be as easy as you thought.”

  “Well crap,” Eddie said. “Let's head back to the farm. I piled some firewood inside near the fireplace so if the players want a fire going all night, they can get up and tend it. I want my feather bed tonight though.”

  Harnessing the pseudo-oxen to the cart was quick. Since Eddie had made the harness himself he knew exactly how to put it on the ox. Allie decided to walk alongside the cart that Eddie was driving, but the other two climbed in the back as they made their way back to the farmhouse.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Alright,” Eddie said. “I need one more day to clear things up down at the new bunkhouse. I want to rent the rooms out for a week instead of a night. Then tomorrow morning we can head for the forest. Is there any particular area that's best entered? If not we can strike straight south from here and probably get to it in an hour or two.”

  Karl shrugged, he knew as much about the Forest of Fools as Eddie did, which was next to nothing.

  Allie looked thoughtful for a moment.

  “Why don't
Karl and I continue mapping today then. We can head straight south of here, find out how far it is to the forest, and I can see if I recognize that section of it.”

  “That sounds like a good plan, you up for more mapping Karl?”

  “Hell yeah, you just wait. When you open that inn, if you open that inn, I'm going to have a map of the entire Meadowlands. I'll make one on the hide of a deer or ox or something and you can hang it in the common room.”

  Eddie thought back to the quest he hadn't shared yet.

  “Definitely a when I open the inn. Speaking of which, I need to contact Paul and see about getting the blueprints for one. But for right now, it's hunting time for me, bunnies today. I still have plenty of venison from yesterday, but the bunny meat is running a little low. I really ought to figure out how to raise them. At the rate they breed in game it ought to be easy to keep a supply of bunny meat around.”

  Karl shook his head at Eddie.

  “Well, I'm having breakfast then heading out to map.”

  The four of them sat down and ate before splitting up. Eddie headed north to hunt bunnies with Tiana accompanying him while Allie and Karl went south to map.

  Instead of going straight north, Eddie went northwest. He'd hunted straight north recently and, despite his comments about how fast the bunnies bred, wasn't sure they'd have replenished that area yet. He was getting better with his bow too, the first bunny he shot netted him a point in his bows skill.

  About an hour into the hunt he'd taken four bunnies, tossing them into his inventory to skin later. As he glanced up to see where to head next, he noticed that the mountains to the north had an outcropping that penetrated the Meadowlands. It was a high, stony ridge that jutted like a peninsula into the meadows and light forest he'd been traversing.

  “Huh, looks like Karl's mapping is a good idea. I'd never have guessed there was something like this around here,” Eddie said.

  “I haven't been in this area before myself. Lucky likes it though.”

  The bobcat had raced into the rocky terrain, bounding from rock to rock as she climbed the ridge.

  Eddie followed, thinking that looking out over the Meadowlands from the high point of the ridge might let him see what was in the area between the farm and his new bunkhouse better.

  As he started climbing there was a flash of something that left him feeling lightheaded.

  “What was that?” he asked, “did you feel it?”

  Tiana was walking along behind him and chuckled when he asked the question.

  “Yes, I felt it. That's a bug that lots of us have reported. But the devs claim it's a feature and I suppose they have a point. Anytime you feel that it means you've changed zones. So be careful, we're in the Hammertop Mountains now. It's for levels fifteen to thirty.”

  “Eh,” Eddie said, “we'll just run back into the Meadowlands if anything attacks.”

  “You are aware that mobs in pursuit can chase you over zone borders?” Tiana asked.

  “Uhh, no. I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.”

  He looked around more carefully now.

  “Is that a cave?” he asked, pointing.

  “Might be, want to check it out?” Tiana replied.

  “Is it safe?”

  “How do I know, I told you I hadn't been around here yet. We can just see if we hear anything in it, and mark it down for exploration later if you'd rather.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. I don't want to sound like a coward or anything, but it's a level fifteen and up zone and I'm only level three.”

  “Don't look at me, I'm only level seven, so I'm with you. But I do want to at least take a look,” she said.

  Before they approached the cave Eddie turned around to look out over the Meadowlands. From what he could see there wasn't much between his farm and the bunkhouse he'd built. Just the normal light forest and meadows like the surrounding area. There was another small pond and the stream that flowed into his land claim, but nothing major.

  I wonder if I have enough land claim acreage available that I could claim that entire section along the road between the two, he thought. What would I do with it if I did though, it's just a tempting thought to ensure that no-one else could do anything that might mess with my existing property. I wonder if that would be prevented by the no PvP rule here. Probably not though, I don't imagine the game checks for smoke paths or where shadows will fall or anything like that.

  Dropping that line of thought for the moment, he turned back towards the cave. Tiana was halfway there already so he hurried to catch up. When she got closer to the cave she started speeding up, breaking into a broken run to avoid the rocks scattered across the top of the ridge.

  “Hurry,” she called. “I can hear someone in there crying for help.”

  Well shit! So much for not getting involved in a higher level zone, he thought.

  He broke into a run of his own, keeping himself at a slow enough rate to avoid the rocks. By the time he got to the mouth of the cave Tiana had already entered it. There was a glowing ball of light over her head illuminating the interior of the cavern and that was a good thing. She stopped dead and when Eddie caught up to her he saw why.

  The path leading into the cave fell away into a deep gouge in the earth, the bottom of the gouge was beyond the twenty foot sphere of light created by Tiana's spell. But that was where the voice was calling from.

  “Can you do that again?” Eddie said, gesturing towards the ball of light over her head.

  Her answer was a chant that finished as she swept her arm to point at him. A light appeared over his head a moment later.

  Eddie dug into his inventory, which was nearly full. Then he saw what he was after. He'd used up the scrap of rope he'd found with Lucky when he made the traces for the cart, but he'd purchased a full coil the one time he'd been in Old Jeffries' trading post.

  He pulled the rope out and glanced around, looking for somewhere to secure one end. He kicked the protrusion of rock he found that jutted up from the join of the wall and floor. It held against his kick so he dropped to his knees and tried desperately to remember how to tie the knot he wanted. He'd known it in the real world and as he forced the knowledge to his mind, his notifications started blinking. He quickly tied the Bowline knot he'd remembered, backing it up with a stopper knot so it wouldn't come undone.

  Dismissing the flashing notification, just like he almost always did now, he lowered the other end of the rope over the edge.

  “I'm going down,” he said. “Did you want to wait up here or come with me?”

  “Let's wait and see how deep it is. If it's deeper than your rope is long you won't want me on the rope behind you,” Tiana said.

  Eddie nodded firmly, then took the rope in his hands, facing her. He backed over the edge and walked himself down the side of the cliff face formed by the gouge. He knew he should've secured himself to the rope somehow, but he couldn't quickly think of any way to do that and he was in a rush. The voice crying for help had sounded hoarse and pained.

  He kept looking down to see how much rope was left and was happy when he saw the floor of the gouge, a few feet of rope lying in a mess on it.

  “Tiana,” he called. “I'm almost down and can see the bottom. Come on down if you're coming.”

  He felt the tension of the rope change slightly, then saw her light come over the edge of the cliff. Once he reached the bottom, he dropped off the rope, keeping tension on it to make her climb easier. A minute later she joined him down bottom.

  “This way,” he said, having listened for the cry while she was climbing.

  The base of the gouge was a combination of dirt and rock, vicious looking shards of rock jutting up from the floor occasionally. The voice grew louder, although it still sounded the worse for wear.

  “Should I call out to them?” Eddie asked Tiana softly.

  “Well, if there were anything down here that was hostile, it would've gone after them, right? Wounded prey is easier than healthy.”

&n
bsp; “We're here, where are you?” Eddie called out loudly.

  The gouge was now a tunnel through solid rock, the roof about twenty feet overhead was a solid sheet of it. The return cry echoed along the corridor, giving them a better sense of where to go.

  A minute later a reflection caught the light as they moved forward. It was a shield, battered and scarred from much use. The iron that bound the edges of the shield glittered in the light. Another step revealed a leg, one bent at an abnormal angle with a hint of white jutting through a rent in the armor that covered it.

  “Is that you?” Eddie said, much softer now. “The person crying for help?”

  “Aye lad, help me out here.”

  Another step brought the rest of the body into view. The unkempt, bushy beard that covered the man's face made Eddie think he was old, at least until he stepped forward. Then he saw that the man's face was unlined, with the look of youth to it.

  Eddie blinked.

  He can't be more than four feet tall. That can't be right, can it?

  The armor the man wore was made of metal scales attached to some sort of backing. It was as battered and scarred as the shield he'd seen. The man himself looked near death, the pale complexion of his face looking unnatural in the light.

  That was all Eddie saw before Tiana pushed past him and knelt beside the man.

  “You're wounded,” she said.

  A grimace passed across the man's face.

  “Aye,” he said.

  “Can I help?”

  “I don't know lassie, can ya?”

  She tilted her head back in frustration.

  “Do you want me to heal you?” she said.

  “Ack, you be a healer?”

  “A priestess, I can heal you if you want.”

  “What are ya waiting for then? I can't heal on me own, I haven't eaten in days.”

  Eddie started rummaging in his back. He had the last few portions of venison that he'd cooked up the night before that hadn't sold. He pulled one out and held it out to the man as Tiana looked over the broken leg.