Smiling, she thought of her plans for the evening. That could help a little too. Oh, who was she kidding? A night with Tyler in that big bed would help a hell of a lot.
Testing the bed out, she was impressed. The inn might not do much for decoration, but they knew their beds. This was by far the softest bed Ash had ever experienced. Laying down, she sank into the mattress and almost drifted off before the knock on the door alerted her that Tyler had arrived.
She jumped up to let him in, motioning toward the bed with a flourish. He took in the room's sole contents and immediately turned red.
"Look, Ash," he stuttered. "I think we need to have a talk before... well, before going to bed."
That didn't sound good. "Okay," she said slowly. "But unless you want to stand, we'll have to sit on the bed. They don't furnish chairs obviously."
They propped the pillows up against the headboard to make a comfortable back to lean against. Once they were situated, Tyler turned to Ash.
"Please don't think that I don't want this to happen." He grimaced. "Hell, I've been dreaming about this ever since I first laid eyes on you."
"Then what is it?" Ash asked. Please don't let the game have programmed him with super religious values that sex outside marriage was wrong. That would really suck.
"It's just... well, I haven't quite felt like myself ever since we came over to the desert area." He hesitated. "I always thought I wanted to travel, to see new places, but now that I'm here all I can think of is home." He reached out for her hand. "When I'm not thinking of you, of course. And I still do that a lot."
Relief flooded Ash. He was homesick, plain and simple. That was probably the game's way of keeping the NPCs from traveling too far from their programmed location. It made sense. Very likely, the further they got from the portal, the more miserable Tyler would get. Ash didn't want that. But she still very much wanted tonight.
"I can understand that, Tyler. I truly can," she said. Then she paused. "Could you make it back to Riser's Creek on your own?" She wasn't sure if the forest creatures would attack an NPC or just let them pass. Ash didn't want anything to happen to him because she had dragged him away from his area, especially as she didn't know if NPCs rebooted or not. At the same time, she knew that Nika would never allow her to take a detour to see him home. There was too much riding on them moving forward, not back.
He nodded. "Actually, I wouldn't be on my own," he said. "My uncle has hired a few soldiers to see his family through the forest to visit our relatives back there." He smiled. "My parents, actually. So I could travel with them all the way to my front door."
"Good," Ash said. "Then I think that's what you should do. When do you leave?"
"They are leaving tomorrow morning. I've been trying to work up the courage to tell you for a while now."
That explained his being off.
She caressed the soft bed between them, not meeting his eyes. "Is there any reason you couldn't stay here tonight with me?"
"Not a one," he said softly. "I just didn't want you to think I was taking advantage of you. I'm not usually in the habit of making love to a woman that I really, really like and then leaving her in the morning. I wanted you to know first."
Now her eyes did meet his. A sly smile on her lips, she asked, "So you've made love to women you've really, really liked before?"
He shook his head. "No," he said, his blush deepening. "But even the ones I only kinda sorta liked, I didn't leave them right after. Especially not when it meant I might never see her again." His voice caught on the last few words.
Now he was the one to look away.
"Tyler," Ash said softly. "I can't guarantee that we'll find each other again because some things right now are simply beyond my control. But know this: if I can at all manage it, you'll see me again, and we'll have many more nights just like this one."
His smoldering gaze met hers. "You'll come back to Riser's Creek for me?"
She nodded. "Not now, I have to help the others get through the desert and then there are some things back home I need to take care of after that. But soon, very soon, after that I'll come if there is any way possible." Ash was counting on Nika keeping her promise for free access to the game once they got out. If they got out.
He reached over and took her in his arms. "Then why the hell am I wasting time? Let's make the most of the few hours we have left."
Ash smiled, entwining her fingers in his silky hair.
"My feelings exactly," she said. After that, the night went much more as she had expected.
Sex. Lots and lots of sex.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Moving Forward
Ash was true to her word and waiting for them at the fountain when they got there. It had taken longer than expected to get Blake moving. It was finally the thought of being a lower level than the rest of them and therefore the most likely to get rebooted in an attack that did the trick and got him out of bed. As it was, they were running a few minutes late.
The first thing Nika noticed was that Ash was alone. That was odd. She had expected Tyler to be with her.
"Tyler is going home today," Ash said when they got close enough. She must have seen Nika's notice of his absence.
The Amazon peered at her closely in the full moonlight. "Are you okay with that?"
Ash smiled. "I am actually," she said. "Ever since he's been with us I've been worried that he'll get killed. And I was never all that sure that his program would reboot. Now I don't have to worry about him."
"Well, then that's a good thing," Evan said. "Though I will miss his sword in battle. For an NPC, he is a fierce fighter."
"Speaking of NPCs," Ash said looking around. "Aren't you missing one as well?"
Nika laughed. "He was headed to the tavern once he left us at the cellar steps. I'm betting he's sawing logs right now and probably working on the beginnings of a massive hangover."
"Sounds like Striker all right," Ash agreed.
They headed out the gate into the little area beyond. The paths this way only led to a couple of quests. There weren't any main roads here. So hopefully that meant no nomad bandits too. Actually, since they were still staying so close to the town, they shouldn't have to worry about any desert creatures. Of the two gates, this one was by far the least dangerous to exit. It just didn't really go anywhere.
Silence reigned as they headed to where they had captured the new creature the afternoon before. That one had been their first wild plant monster, Desert Rose. Its primary attack was called Thorn Throw. For some reason, it worked well against water creatures. They were hoping the area would yield another new creature as the nighttime critters were out in force now.
They weren't disappointed.
Louella was the first to spot it. They might well have all walked straight past it if she hadn't. The rest of the team had been strictly looking on the ground and in the limited grassy areas. This one wasn't on either. It was on a thick branch halfway up a tree.
As soon as it saw they had spotted it, the thing lifted off, spreading great black wings as it did.
"A NightBat," Ash whispered. "They are kind of shy and a little hard to catch."
"Is there any kind of strategy to use to trap it?"
The girl thought for a minute, looking over to Louella for help. The pixie shrugged. "Aren't they usually found around sweet stuff? For some reason, candy comes to mind as a lure for them."
"It's been too long since I played," Ash said. "But I think maybe you're right. If we had some candy that would help."
"Does anyone have any sweets in their packs?" Nika asked.
Everyone shook their heads. They had all been more focused on putting actual food in their inventory, and snacks seemed to be pretty limited in the game. Dessert after meals was about the only sweets Nika had noticed in the game. And those didn't pack well into inventories.
Then Louella's face lit up. "Oh, I do!" she said digging in her inventory and bringing up several cubes of sugar. "Not candy exactly, but I'm betting they wil
l work."
They did. Of course, Munch and FireStorm helped with the recruitment too. Their tries went pretty quickly, each of them getting a NightBat on their very first try.
Unfortunately, Louella wasn't so lucky. It took her three tries and three traps to finally catch one. When she finally did, they saw why this one was more difficult to catch. It was a level five. The other critters they had found in the wild, including the two NightBats the others had caught had all been level three. Her's was a full two levels stronger.
After catching their bats, the hunt didn't offer up any other creatures, new or old. So much for experience grinding. The gate area had been quickly tapped out.
The good news was it had allowed them all to climb one additional precious level. Nika and Evan were now at level nine, thanks to the afternoon's success plus the early morning points racked up. Granted, they were just barely over the level, but still, it counted. One more level to be back where they were when they came through the portal.
Ash, Louella, and their team mates were only at level eight. Their counters showed them about a third of the way to nine, with Louella's team just a little higher in experience than Ash's. That bat had given her an edge. Plus, the extra tries to catch it probably helped too.
With any luck, once they got back to the rooftop battlefield and did their player battles, she and Evan at least would be at ten. Nika was really beginning to regret not waking everyone up that fateful morning to hunt with them. It would have made a difference.
As much as she wanted everyone to be at ten, she was getting tired of simply grinding for levels. They needed to be on their way. If she had anything to say about it, they would be directly after their battles.
There simply wasn't any more time to waste. Hopefully, they could level up on the way before they met any big and dangerously bad desert creatures.
They saved at the fountain as they passed and then went to the market to pick up several potions for their creatures. It would save them having to jog up and down the stairs between battles if they could simply have their critters pop a potion when their health got low.
Thirty minutes later, Nika and Evan were a hair's breadth away from level ten and Louella had managed to gain her ninth level. Ash and Dean were still stuck at level eight, but the next battle they faced, be it from Trials or Gaia, would put them over and into nine as well.
It wasn't perfect by any means, but it would have to do. Today they would ride into the desert.
Dean moaned when she told them.
"Oh, man," he said. "I was counting on getting another long nap before we headed back out."
"Tell you what," Nika said in her best compromising voice. "If we get ready and head out now, we can travel in the morning hours before it gets so bloody hot. There should be two oasis points between Waterton and the Outpost. When we hit the first one, we can set up a quick camp and get a nap in there."
He scrunched his nose up. "It does get pretty hot here in the afternoon, doesn't it?"
"Actually, here in town, it isn't nearly as bad as it is out there," Nika motioned out toward the main desert as she spoke. "We'll all be ready for a break in some shade by the time we reach it."
Dean sighed, but nodded. "Okay, I'm on board," he said. "Hey, I just realized that we have six riders and four horses. With Tyler not going with us that means not all of us will have to double up. That's good, right?"
Nika nodded. Although saving the gold they had spent for the extra horse might have been nice, having the additional mount was good. She'd been a bit worried about over working the mounts in the heat. Now, if the heavier of them rode singly, it wouldn't be nearly as hard on the horses. And neither the pixie nor the dwarf neither weighed all that much.
"Hopefully it will help the horses quite a bit," she said. "Plus, just maybe add a bit of speed to our journey."
With one last trip to the market to pick up more traps and critter potions, they were on their way to the stables and their mounts. That was one nice thing about virtual traveling. As you carried everything in your inventory, and it was always on you, there was no need to pack anything before leaving. And they already had more than enough food in their packs to last them one day and night in the desert.
Although Nika was surprised to find that in her rush to get started, she had almost made a very crucial mistake. Yes, they had potions, for themselves and the monsters they carried, food, and even snacks for the horses. What they didn't have enough of was water. So as soon as they retrieved their mounts, they made a quick side trip back to the mayor’s house.
There was no charge for food or water gained there. The supply closet held canteens and each of them grabbed two. One for them and one for their horses. Then they filled them with water and made sure to drink their fill, too, before going back out to the street and getting into their saddles.
For this morning's ride, Dean and Nika got the singe rides. Louella doubled up with Ash, and they put Striker with Blake. Neither of them was very happy about that situation but the only one Nika truly felt a bit sorry for was Striker. Still, the strategy made sense, and she didn't want to have to stick Louella riding with the jerk. As real as he seemed, at the end of the day Striker was only programming code.
She was torn between stopping for one last monster collection and heading straight into the desert. If she was right, and the group could make the same time they had on their earlier trip out to meet the nomad bandits, they should be able to reach the first small oasis by late morning, even giving them time for a quick battle or two.
The problem is that according to the original programming of Gaia's Rebirth, that oasis held a mini-boss battle. She really didn't want to take the risk of getting them all rebooted back to town. Or worse, finding out that was no longer an option.
Although as quickly as it would happen in the game, they would probably never realize they were actually dying for real. That had to be one of the easiest ways of them all to meet your maker, right? Yeah, look on the bright side of things. You’ll never know what hit you.
She didn't plan on getting any of them, especially Louella, killed unless it turned out to be totally out of her control. So in the end, they did stop for not only one monster collection, but two.
Going forward she felt much more confident with her and Evan now firmly at level ten. Louella was getting close too, and Ash and Dean not all that far behind her. Hopefully, they would meet some smaller desert creatures and even more little critters on the way to help bump them there.
"Crap," Ash said, bringing her mount close to Nika's. "We totally forgot to trade our strongest monster to you this morning. Shouldn't we do that before going too much farther?"
Double crap. Nika couldn't believe she'd almost made two very disastrously dangerous mistakes all in the same morning. She needed to get her head back in the game or she'd get them all killed.
They didn't have to be sitting still to do the trades, so they kept riding as they made their swaps. The girls each kept their original monster, which by now was level six and fairly strong, and a couple of weaker ones. The game simply wouldn't allow you to trade your starting monster. It made sense as that is how the game chose who to pit you against in battles. Generally going with the element you were weakest against.
Nika ended up with her level eight ThunderClap, and one each of all the other monsters they had collected, plus a couple of lower level monsters that she had collected on her own. All the smaller monsters had been raised to level six with their battles in the wild and on the rooftop. Not a bad start as they were just now really entering the desert in force.
Relaxing, she was once again grateful for her team. Ash had saved them from possibly losing some of their stronger monsters. Once they reached the oasis, most likely they would have no choice but to join together as one party. She hated the thought of losing their starting creatures, but there simply wasn't any help for it.
It was far more important to survive and keep moving forward.
They
were only a couple of miles outside of town when the first group of desert creatures attacked. Hyenas. From the look of it, at least with these creatures, it didn't matter if they were one big party or three smaller ones. It was possible that two hyenas spawned for each of their parties, too. Either way, they faced six of the creatures now, which Nika was suspecting would be about the same number if they were all joined together.
That made it much nicer. Then she noticed something about the beasts facing them. The hyenas weren't interested in them. They were after the horses. If they maimed them, it wouldn't be pretty.
"Dismount!" Nika cried, putting action to her words. "They're after the horses!"
Evan was already closing in on the first creature, as he didn't have to take the time to get off a horse. A few slices with his sword and they were down to five.
By that time, they were all on their feet. Nika saw Striker running to her side out of the corner of her eye. He might be little, but when he swung that massive battle hammer of his, creatures took a great deal of damage. There were two beasts closing in on her mount, and seeing Striker on his way helped her have the confidence to commit to attacking the beast to the right. The dwarf would handle the one to the left of her until she got free.
All in all, it was a fairly quick battle. This close to town, the hyenas were most likely only level nine or ten. Not that much of a challenge.
Once all the hyenas were nothing but glittery additions to the desert floor, Louella had reached the glorious level of ten. Ash and Dean were close, but not quite there yet. One more battle should do it.
"Nika, is there a setting that you can choose that will show us the monsters' levels?" Ash asked. "That could be important to know before engaging them. At the least, it would help with our strategy."
And tell them when to run. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option available. It would be on the next run through of the game. If there was one.
"I'm afraid not," Nika said. "However, the creatures between the town and the first oasis should be anywhere from level eight on the low side up to level twelve on the high side."
Gaia's Rebirth Box Set Page 35
