“Yeah, thanks, but …”
She has sunk beneath the water’s surface again, likely waiting for the next poor guy who “dares disturb the Waters of Cai.”
The slight trickle of water leading from the forest’s edge into the river would have been easy to miss if the nymph hadn’t pointed it out. I wonder how much water this pixie has been diverting. I equip my bow and arrow and start following the small stream into the forest.
You have discovered the Forest of Hartley
Reward: +80 XP
I wait for more, but the game has no other messages for me. Evidently some other player has already explored this forest. Not even a full twelve hours into game play and already the first achievements are being claimed. The Forest of Hartley is a lot brighter and more welcoming than Foyle Forest was. I don’t feel nearly as anxious or like I’m in danger with every step. Of course, that could just be luring me into a false sense of security.
I keep my weapon equipped.
Chapter 19
There’s no set path to follow, but the trickle of water provides a wide enough area for me to rush through the ground cover and low growth in the forest. I try to avoid stepping directly into the water if I can. Wouldn’t want to ‘sully’ it further.
As I make my way deeper into the forest I try to figure out how to even catch a pixie. Clearly this creature is smart enough to divert water from the spring, so how can I hope to outsmart it? It’s probably small, so I can physically overpower it. But that’s assuming I can catch it at all. And then what can I use to keep it captured?
This quest will take more than just the skills I have at my disposal. I don’t think I can club a pixie unconscious and stuff it in my pocket.
I pause in my hike and look more closely at the forest around me. Maybe there is something nearby that could help me. Maybe some hint from the pixie’s natural habitat will give me a clue.
Just ahead to my right, I notice a large tree with a small hollowed out area. A very faint glow emits from the space.
Active Skill Unlocked Active Skill: Power Perception Level 1
Description: By paying attention and focusing on your environment, you can sense the presence of spells, magical objects and enemies
Requirement: Focus Level 1, Magic 12 points
Reward: +40 XP
Oh, hell yeah. Between this and the focus skill I am finally being rewarded for taking my damn time and not just barreling in, guns blazing like Jargonaut does.
I move closer to the tree to examine whatever magic that I’ve sensed. Slowly, carefully. I’m not sure what kind of creature may have taken up residence there. The hollow is just at the right height that I can peer into it from a few feet away. It appears unoccupied but full of a random selection of objects. Small river stones, feathers from a variety of bird, a rusty padlock but no key, broken egg shells, a handful of coins and what appears to be an empty jar or glass.
It’s the nest of some packrat or owl or something maybe. I take a few steps closer, since whatever lives here doesn’t appear to be home.
Achievement: You have discovered a Pixie nest
Description: Pixies are known to be mischievous, play pranks and steal valuables. Many of them hoard their souvenirs to gloat over afterward.
A pixie nest? I wonder if there’s something here I can use against it. I reach a tentative hand into the tumble of objects, hoping there is no set organization that I’m disturbing. I uncover a key that doesn’t match the padlock, more coins, a single left shoe and other odds and ends. The magical glow I noticed earlier covers the entire hollow; there must be some kind of spell or charm set over the whole location, but I have no way of knowing what that might be. I could be setting off some kind of alarm just reaching in.
Looking through the pixie loot, I begin to formulate a plan. There must be some way of using this greedy, mischievous tendency against it. I grab the glass jar, a key, a ring, three various feathers and a random rock up off the ground and stow them in my pack before continuing into the forest.
Before long the trickle of water disappears under a large stone. It is the largest among a dozen stones arranged in a circle in this small clearing. I don’t see easily how or where the Waters of Cai are being diverted, but stone circles are usually centers of magic. I stop and focus enough to notice a very faint glow around the circle.
Is it hiding? Is that a trap? How can I draw out the pixie that created this water diversion?
I stand there for a short moment, thinking, considering my options. Without knowing much more about what I’m up against, I figure the direct route is the best way.
I step directly into the middle of the stone circle, feeling a very light chill as I cross over the border. I feel silly just standing here, looking around, waiting for the pixie to come find me. I nudge at the largest rock with my toe, moving it back and forth, and almost kick it over when a piercing screech startles me.
“MINE!”
I turn around, looking for the source.
“MINE!” I hear again, from just behind me.
Tiny hands yank on the back of my short hair.
“Ow!”
“That’s mine. Don’t touch it! I got it. I made it. It’s mine.”
“Whoa, okay, buddy. Okay.” I put my hands up in what the creature recognizes as the universal symbol for ‘I surrender.’ “I was just walking through this forest and came across these stones. They’re yours, you say?”
“Yes. Mine.” The pixie is only about the size of my hand, but flying at about my eye level with his arms crossed and a pouting frown on his face. “What do you want? You have something for me?”
“Do I have something for you?” I’m stalling. I need to get a sense of how smart this guy is if I have any hope of out-smarting him.
“Yes. Something for me. I’ll let you go if you have something for me.”
I smirk. I can’t help myself. He’ll let me go? I could smash him flat in a second if I wanted to.
“Yeah, sure. I might have something. I don’t want any trouble.” I pretend to dig through my bag, as though I don’t know each and every item that’s already in it. “So, what is this rock circle, anyway? Do you live here?”
“The circle is for trapping. You’re trapped, you see, right? Other things get trapped, too.”
I wonder if I am actually trapped. I try to take a step backwards out of the circle as I look for something in my bag and feel a gentle push back. I look, but there’s nothing. The magic I sensed with my Power Perception must have identified the trap and I didn’t realize it. I stifle a groan. So now not only do I need to trick the creature into trapping himself but also into letting me free.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Maybe if I pretend I didn’t hear him it’ll be softer on his ego to let me go. “I was looking for the gifts I have for you. Maybe I could spread them out on the ground here?”
I indicate the stretch of meadow outside the stone circle. Within the circle there is barely room for my feet, let alone anything else. The pixie eyes me, and I try to wear the most innocent expression I have.
“Gifts? Gifts more than one?”
I nod.
“Okay, yes. Let’s see it, then.”
He flicks a couple fingers toward me gesturing to the open space. As I take a step, the cool sensation I felt crossing the border earlier is gone and I realize the pixie removed the spell. Without showing any of the relief I feel, I kneel on the soft grass and begin to pull the random assortment of objects out of my bag, lining them up in a row in front of me. A dark grey feather, the key, one of my Clubs, one of my arrows, a white feather, the random stone, and a black feather.
The pixie lands on the ground in front of my row of gifts, pacing back and forth, looking at each item in turn.
“All these are for me, yes? All these are mine?”
“Yes, if you’d like them. Or …”
He glares at me sharply. “Or? Or what? What?”
“You can have all of these things, or if y
ou’d prefer you can trade them for one other thing.”
“What is it? Why one thing?”
While he had been pacing, keeping my hands inside the bag, I dropped the ring inside the jar. I keep the lid of the jar in one hand, and still hidden, but pull the glass and ring out to show him.
“Or you can trade all of these things for this ring.”
His eyes get wide. As I suspected when I saw the nest, he doesn’t have much a discerning eye. Just me telling him the ring is worth all the others is enough for him to believe me.
“I want the ring. The ring is mine now.”
“Of course, yeah. Just one problem. I can’t seem to get it out of the jar. It must be magically stuck in there.”
He doesn’t even look at my face, his eyes are too greedy, hungering after the gleaming red and gold ring.
“I get it out. No problem.”
I set the jar down by my knees and lean back a tiny bit. The pixie barely acknowledges my presence. He walks from one side of the jar to the other. It’s just a bit taller than him and I can see his small figure distorted through the glass.
“I don’t see any magic. You must be dumb or something.”
And with that rude retort, the pixie flies up and into the jar to claim his ring. The ring that was already his and I took from him but that he apparently didn’t recognize? Just as he is wrapping his arms around the ring to fly out of the jar, I clamp the lid down, trapping him inside.
And he calls me dumb.
Chapter 20
Anticipating my reward and leveling up, I hurry back to the river and Maris. Already, the slight trickle of spring water is growing. Simply removing the pixie from the source seems to have reversed the water diversion.
I hesitate as I approach the river’s edge. How do I call Maris again? Should I just stick my hand in and hope she catches me? Is there some password she forgot to tell me?
“Maris?” I call softly.
A few bubbles begin to surface, then more and more until the top of her mossy green head breaks and she appears from the water.
“You have returned, SirAsh3r.”
“I have. I have completed the task you have set and returned the Spring of Cai to you.”
I pull the jar out of my bag and hold it out to her. The pixie has given up cursing at me and sits at the bottom of the jar, arms crossed, wings folded in, looking for all the world like a pouting child.
It flips me a middle finger.
Lovely.
Maris leans forward to examine the captured creature, but does not take the jar from me.
“How strange that so small a thing can do so much damage. The water spirits of Camlan thank you, SirAsh3r.”
She takes the jar from my hand.
Quest Completed: Pester Pixie Pesternomi
Description: You have successfully captured the water thieving pixie and delivered it to Maris. The Spring of Cai is no longer diverted and all the magical water now empties into the river
Reward: +200 XP, +15% regard with water spirits, +5% water affinity
Flask of Maris: Use this flask to store and carry water from any source.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 14!
You have one attribute point to distribute.
“Thank you,” I say solemnly. “Can I … I mean, would it be possible, your water worship, for me to fill this flask with the Waters of Cai?”
“You may,” she responds with equal solemnity.
Maybe this taking-herself-so-seriously thing is just because she’s above level 60. It’s going to get old pretty quickly. I only have so many formal words in my vocabulary.
I kneel at the river’s edge to fill my flask.
“Is there any other service I can render you, my wet queen?”
“There may be a day that the water spirits of Camlan call upon you again, SirAsh3r. But today is not that day. You have my blessing and protection as long as you are near this river. May it serve you well as you continue your journey.”
“Thank you, Maris. May I ask another question?”
“You may.”
“As I mentioned, I originally committed the grave error of disturbing your water because I do not have a map or any means of knowing the location of things. I have been told there is a town on this river?”
“There is. Follow the river upstream approximately one mile and you will reach Allynton. There a Guardian of Camlan such as yourself can find rest, resources and fulfill his duty in protecting the land.”
Again with this Guardian duty. I get it. I just need to level up, lady.
“You will find,” she continues, “that a Guardian who is chivalrous and true will earn reward beyond what you can imagine. Pursuing what is true and good will prove to be far more lucrative and valuable than pursing that which you may buy at a shop or store in a bank.”
“Okay …” I’m not totally sure what she’s trying to tell me. But, cool. Do good things. Got it.
“God speed, SirAsh3r. May the wind always be at your back and your flask always be full.”
“Thank you.” I manage a deep exaggerated bow to the River Nymph before she disappears under the water again. She pulls the glass jar with the pixie under with her and I wonder for a second what will become of it. But, then I remember, it’s just code. It’s a game.
The afternoon sun is getting low. I should have enough time to walk to the town and find the inn before sunset. And then what? In every other game I’ve played I would just log out. I wonder what the restrictions and capabilities are now that I’m fully immersed.
Sticking close to the river’s edge will protect me from any attacks, if Maris is to be believed. As I walk upstream, I feel safe enough to pull up my stats to make sure I’m on the right track.
Name: SirAsh3r
Level: 14
Strength: 14
Intelligence: 16
Dexterity: 14
Stamina: 15
Magic: 15
Skills: Woodcraft 2, Slash 2, Club 2, Paddle 1, Climbing 1, Stealth 1, Archery 3, Power Perception 1
Abilities: Initiative 1, Focus 1
Professions: Cooking 1
Affinities: 2% Earth; 6% Water
Fame: 250
Achievements: First Explorer of Lake Galavant, First Explorer of Foyle Forest
Reminder: You have 1 (one) attribute point to distribute.
I really need to get better at remembering to distribute those points. Looking over my stats, I decide to add to my Intelligence. My Magic sensing and Focus skills rely on that stat and if nothing else it will widen the difference between Jargonaut and me. I can’t beat him at his own game. It’s far too late to try to tank up and take him had on. If I’m going to win this Challenge, I have to do it my own way.
Which reminds me to check.
We’re nearing the end of day one and there hasn’t been much shuffling in the ranks. Other than Anim8ted, it could still be anybody’s game. I hope.
The hike upstream is beautiful. The Forest of Hartley remains on my right. The boulders have thinned out and there doesn’t seem to be any risk of River Trolls. All I have is my flask, and I’m starving, but there must be food at Allynton. I just need to push through.
Thank god I had the foresight to put a point into Stamina.
The river curves slightly to the left and a small, medieval-looking town appears at the crest of the hill. A mill sits on the water’s edge, water wheel spinning, as the first welcome to visitors.
Achievement: You are the first visitor to Allynton
Size: 250 inhabitants
Resources: farmland, river-front, some forest on the outskirts
Reward: +90 XP, +100 Fame
Damn, that’s lucky. I can’t believe I’m the first player to have come across this town. I wonder what everyone else is up to. What have I been missing?
As soon as I find the inn and some food, the next thing I need is a map. For sure.
I leave the water’s edge to enter the town’s front gates
. A guard stands on either side of the open gate, each looking bored. The larger man with a full gray beard sees me approaching first and perks right up. He says something to his partner, a younger woman with light brown hair pulled back in a braid, and they both watch me approach expectantly.
“Greetings, traveler,” the man says as soon as I am within talking distance. “Welcome to Allynton. What brings you to this corner of Camlan?”
Both of the guards kept their hands on the pommel of their swords. Casually, but still ready. I stow my bow and arrow, keeping my hands weapon free and in plain sight.
“I was hoping your town could offer me hospitality. I am looking for a place to eat, to rest, and if possible a place to get a map of Camlan.”
The two guards look at each other apprehensively.
“Do you have leave from Lord Crimson to stay here?” the woman asks.
“No …” Who is Lord Crimson?
They share another look. The bearded man swallows nervously, and nods very slightly.
“Allynton is on Lord Crimson’s land,” the woman begins, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We all live here at his pleasure and he must give permission for any new residents.”
“Well that’s fine.” I’m confused but play along. “I am not a resident. Merely a traveler, looking to spend a night here before I go on my way.”
“That’s true,” the man says hesitatingly. “He’s not planning on staying. Lord Crimson can’t object to him only staying a night, can he?”
“Besides,” I continue. “How else will your innkeeper be able to make an income and pay your lord whatever rent is owed? He must have some customers eventually.”
“I suppose you’re right,” the woman says. “As long as you’re sure to leave tomorrow, the lord may not even notice you were here.”
The bearded man gestures the road behind him. “Follow this road until you hit the square. You’ll find several stalls of produce and meat available if you wish. We only have one inn—the Whispering Fox. It faces the square on the east side. Charlie Connell, the innkeeper will take good care of you. If you need anything else while you’re in Allynton you can just ask one of the guards in the square.”
Quest for Camlan_A LitRPG Adventure Page 10
