The Apprentice of Arabella

by Matthew Kent

  I made it up to the top of the tree just fine and I saw a smudge on the far western edge, but the rest seemed to be a sea of green. I then used levitate and went up fifty feet. There, I was able to get a better vantage point. That smudge I had seen to the west appeared to be smoke from fires. Estimating my height and the lay of the land, it was a good fifteen to twenty miles away. I lowered myself down and rested, then descended the tree.

  After I rested some more, I started my overland journey, I harvested plants and farmed animals for skins and brains. I also wound up with quite a bit of meat. After a few hours more, I crested a knoll and saw a great clearing just beyond the woods. It appeared to be a small settlement. No more than a hundred people lived there. From the top of the rise I could hear the far off clanging of the black smith, the lowing of cattle, and closer the sounds of geese. There were fields of ripe grain. For all intents and purposes, a healthy happy village, just right for this noobie to learn in.

  Before I could start toward the village proper I felt something on the back of my neck. “All right, who are ye and wha ye be doin’ lookin’ at me village loik that?”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Chapter 10

  To say the turn of events disturbed, me would be an understatement. I had never been marched into a village at weapon point. I could have fought, but I thought if I did, it would send the wrong signal to the townspeople. My captor was crowing about his good fortune. “I gots him I did. I gots the sheep thief.” I shook my head and sighed at this.

  “Seriously, do I look like I have any sheep on me?”

  “Hush yer smart mouth,” he said as he poked me with his pitchfork. Don’t get me wrong, a pitchfork is a very intimidating farm implement. This one looked like it had two iron tines that looked close to needle sharp. The bumpkin marched me through town to what I presumed was the headman or town elder.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Said a harsh voice to my right. I looked over and smiled. It was a wizened old man. He could have been any age between fifty and five hundred.

  “I caught the thief”

  “You caught something all right. You’re lucky it wasn’t a case of the deads. Thanks, mister for not carving this fool up.” The old man said as he looked me over. I heard my captor about to make a protest. “Shuddup and get,” The old man said as he shook his head. “As for you,” he pointed at me, “sit and we can figure out who or what you are.”

  “Thankyou sir I’ve been on my feet all day”

  He looked at me from head to toe then snorted. I sat where he directed me. “So, what brings you to Medford?”

  “I honestly, have no idea where I am or, to be honest, where I’m going. I found myself lost after an illness. I found myself in the woods and could spot your town from a distance by the smoke. I headed in this direction hoping to figure out where I was and how to get to a larger town.”

  He grunted.”You’re well now, though?”

  “Well enough to walk twenty miles or more through a virgin forest in a little over a day.”

  “Aye, that's well enough,” he looked at me speculatively. “As you’ve heard, we’ve had some sheep thefts, more than likely its wolves but we still need to get it to stop. Sorry about sheep for brains, but Jed well he’s never been quite right.” He shook his head.

  “If I could I’ve got skins and things I’ve collected and would like to sell if I may.”

  “Aye you are free to go as you please, but I did notice your instrument. Are you a musicker?”

  “I am a bard, yes.”

  “It's been a powerful long time since we had a musicker in the village. Would you be willing to play at the tavern tonight?”

  Quest received entertain the town of Medford rewards reputation and Xp

  Accept Yes/No?

  I accepted of course. “It would be my pleasure, sir. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

  “I didn’t give it. Call me Darby. That way is the smith” he pointed north, ” that way is the tanner and leather crafter.” He pointed south towards the river. “Over there is the general merchant and the woods woman.”

  I nodded my thanks and headed to the general merchant to sell some of the goods I had collected. I kept the best of the bones and claws for myself. I left with a to go see the blacksmiths. I found him at work hammering in a rhythm, the kind of rhythm that comes with long years of work and practice earned by endless days of hammering. It was music to my ears.

  “Aye whatcha wanting lad?” He said gruffly. He was a big man over six feet, with brown eyes, greying brown hair and a face lined with laugh lines.

  “I was listening to the sounds I associate with home,” I replied smiling. “It's good to hear and see a true master at work.”

  “Nae not a master, but one day mayhap.” He sighed. “But, here now its mostly farm tools. I be making. It's exciting, the days I get to make a blade for a house wife or hunter.” I completely understood.

  “Yeah it's fantastic when someone orders something that would challenge you.”

  He eyed me ”You're a crafter then?”

  “Yes, iron, leather, whatever I can get my hands on."

  “Then you know metal?”

  “I know good metal and sometimes have an eye for ore, though I still need to relearn mining.”

  He nodded at this. “I can help ye there,” he said walking back and reaching into a shelf to retrieve a slim volume. “Here read this,” he said as he handed me the volume.

  I read the title On Mines and Minerals.

  “Think you could find me some good ore?” He asked me.

  As I read the book the pages flipped quickly, and then the book fell apart into motes. Suddenly, the knowledge was there and I knew how to mine in the game.

  Skill: Mining Neophyte gained

  “I can find you what you need.”

  Quest: Mining for the smith: collect 20 iron ores for the smith of Medford

  Accept Yes/No?

  Finally, the kind of quests a newbie was supposed to be getting. Including one class quest, I would have to up my game and relearn some music from when I was a kid, or I wondered if there was a way to just play music automatically. I should look into that, I guessed, but I wanted to go check out the leather worked and skinner to see if they had anything I could use oh I don’t know like armor.

  The leather worker’s shop was far from the village. It was consistent with the Middle Ages and even Modern Day, where they would place the stinky businesses away from the main town. Trust me, there is nothing worse than the god awful stench of a tannery, unless it's a rendering plant in the summer. Now that would gag a vulture.

  The shop was-well not old, but let's say well lived in. There were goods displayed on counters behind a main counter. I’m sure it was to prevent them from making an escape from the good shop owner.

  “Hello” I called as I entered the establishment.

  “Hello yer self, stranger,” came an immediate reply. “What might I do ye fer?” said the old woman in a corner. Unlike the headman, she looked old but not tired or used up. She sat in the corner with a few items she had been sewing together while she smoked from a pipe.

  “I have leather and skins I might like to sell, and was looking for a good set of leather armor.”

  “Aye, we do some buying, but we prefer to be doing the selling.”

  I nodded in understanding. “I’m understand that, but I have something I’m sure you have never seen before.” as I took out some of the brain tanned leather and laid it out in front of her.

  “Not likely, you have to go pretty far to show something new to Granny Goose,” but her hands still reached out for the leather. “Aye, what's this?” She mused as she took hold of the soft leather. She unrolled it, then ran her hands along it wonderingly. “That's the softest leather I ever saw…” she looked at me appraisingly. “Your work?”

  I nodded.

  “Maybe we can work a deal then.” She eyed me. “Theres a set of armor that would fit yo
u, but it's expensive. All totaled its five gold. This leather now..: she said, waving it “I’d buy for two gold on a good day.” I didn’t want to haggle but I might as well try. I pulled out the skins.

  “How much for all the skins?” There were fifty-six of various animals. She rifled through them and seemed to tally it in her mind.

  “For that one piece and the skins I’ll give you the armor.”

  “Done!” I said as I stuck my hand out to her to shake on our deal. I looked at the armor I received in exchange. It was a full suit: gloves, greaves, chest, shoulders, and boots

  Medium Leather Armor; AC 20

  Durability: 90

  +20 damage reduction

  +15 Strength

  +15 Agility

  +10 Endurance

  +5 Charisma

  It wasn’t to bad, I thought as I quickly put on the armor, both practical and stylish I thought. The deep brown would make me harder to see, and it gave me plenty of freedom of movement. I thanked Granny, and then went to the general store to see what he might have in the way of tools.

  “Can I help ye?” questioned the general store keeper laconicly.

  “Yeah, I wanted to see if you had a few things.”

  “Don’t mind me then. If you want something you don’t see, then just ask I may have it in the back.” He then pulled up a broad sheet and settled back down on a stool by the door. The shop was dusty and dark, which explained his reading by the door. I could spot some tools I could use: a pick, a hammer and a spade for collecting flowers and plants.

  “Got any larger bags?” I asked hopeful since mine had filled up quickly with my farming. Thank god the furs and skins had stacked.

  He eyed my bag, “I have a smaller one, but you can carry two of them.”

  “I’ll take it, the tools, unless you have a blacksmithing and leather working kits.” He frowned then nodded.

  By the time I left his shop, it was nearing night and, while I had one more bag, my coin purse was another three gold lighter. I headed to the inn called the Dawn’s Rest near the edge of town. I had a quest to finish and maybe I could sing for my supper, as it were.

  The Inn was a two story affair, and I judged would hold thirty to forty people. I guessed that the Inn Keeper and his family lived upstairs or out back and tended a small stable along with the Inn. As I stepped into the building, I was greeted by a Garrulous man, whom I assumed was the Inn keeper. “Welcome, welcome I’ve been expecting you.”

  “I take it the headman let you know I’d be here?”

  “He did, he did and so happy to have you here we are.” He gestured me over toward the fire. I sat, then readied my instrument. It was an amazing thing that my instrument never went out of tune here.

  “Let me warm up,” I said as I struck the first cord and played a version of scales. Then, I tried to find different ways to play songs that might be presets.

  One of the maids came by “Can you play me Whisky in the Jar?” I

  t was a song I knew of, but had never learned. Then I recieved a quest pop up. I accepted yes then something took over, and I played. It felt almost as if something were reaching into my memory, but my fingers strummed the tune.

  Loremaster check: Success: +1 to Loremaster

  Intelligence check: Success +0.001 to intelligence

  So it went on like that for the next two hours. A patron would request a song and I might or might not know it. I both gained and lost intelligence points and Loremaster points. At the end of the quest my Loremaster was up by fifteen, while my intelligence was up a fraction. The inn keeper seemed pleased patrons bought drinks, and even a few PC’s were there, lower level characters like myself.

  That meant there was that one guy who thought he was a comedian. “Yo, bard dude, couldn’t you play a real character?”

  I would complete a set and would hear disparaging comments. Seriously, what does “come on boy squeal like a pig” mean?

  But I made it through and increased my rep with the town by fifty points. Talk about a success, I even made tip money. In total it came out to be just over five silver. Hey, that’s nothing to sneeze at.

  “Sir,” I said respectfully to the bar keeper. “Might I rent a room for the night?”

  “Certainly, that would be one silver for the night, and I’ll feed you for your singing”

  Hidden quest complete: Singing For Your Supper.

  Reputation gained: 10 points.

  Before I could thank him, my heckler grabbed me. ” Hey, now what's this? I looked at him he was a level thirteen Obviously a warrior by his weapons.

  “Don’t” his friend said. I nodded to him in thanks. “Kill him tomorrow when he leaves the village but not here tonight.” Well crap, I would have to blacklist Bruce and Ahohako.

  I sighed. Same shit different day. “I’m sorry, I don’t think it would be much of a fair fight,” I replied.

  To the Inn keeper I said, “I would be most grateful.”

  He gave a sour look to Bruce and Ahohako, then beamed at me. As he waved me up the stairs and showed me a room.

  “This is you,” he said as he opened a door.

  I thanked him, then entered, lay down and logged out of the game.

  X - X - X

  I awoke as the pod opened, and realized I was ravenous. The pod I used wasn’t set up for long immersions. They had told me it was set for about twelve hours at the most, then an auto lockout would initate and I would be woken up. I wondered, though about character creation when they said I was under for thirteen hours. Was that not included in game play?

  I showered shaved and looked at the time. It was about seven thirty. Time enough for me to get something to eat and get a good night’s rest before I had to deal with the meat shield. The Valkyries had also been in the back of my mind, and how I should deal with them. Perhaps they were on a level, but perhaps not. Eira was beautiful, and her friends were too. Except for Malik, but he was a dude so, yeah, not my thing. They wanted a huge quest? Well, I didn’t have one I could give them, I didn’t think but if I dangled a lead in front of them to a quest what would happen?

  Was I being a tad evil? Maybe. But if they took the bait and left me like last weeks leftovers, then I’d say I had proof. Now, to find a likely city in-game. Arabella was a very expansive game. The world size in-game would have been about the size of three earths. There were a huge number of towns and villages, but I needed one of a fairly decent size, with some world history, ruled by elves or dwarfs. I checked the wiki pages and I found it. A fortress city in the mountains Dros Drin held by both elves and dwarfs as a treaty city. I smiled and hoped it was fairly wicked, I had a plan. Even better Dros Drin was four or five days travel from Medford on foot if I farmed along the way two if I walked straight.

  My dinner went fairly well, I was left alone enough to read up some more on mining and crafting in general in the game. It seemed fairly easy, but I got the feeling that most players didn’t give it their all. They didn’t try new things like I had with the tanning. Or maybe it was that I didn’t know what not to do, so did it anyway, and it worked out really well for me.

  “Hey mind if we join you?” I looked up there were two players. They looked familiar, but I couldn’t place them.

  “Sure.” The hall wasn’t crowded so obviously they wanted something. Did I remember them from earlier today, or maybe it was yesterday?

  “We wanted to talk to you about the Valkyries. We heard you got an in with them.”

  My eyebrow rose. “I’d say that is a bit of an over statement. But go on.”

  The shorter one poked the larger one. “Well see, my brother and I we want to join a good guild and you have to get a recommendation or have an outstanding skill that a guild would want.”

  “Yeah, I’m going for PVP, but they still won’t look at either of us.”

  “We hear, though, they invited you, and we wanted to know why?”

  Ah, I thought to myself.

  “There’s no real mystery.” I look
ed at them both. “First, Malik thinks I have the info to a global quest. I don’t. Second, I discovered an exclusive pattern which may turn out to be lucrative. Or not.”

  “Oh” said the younger, smaller one “You know, they are probably trying to just get those from you before they dump you.” He looked at his brother for confirmation.

  “You should join us, we could make our own guild.”

  “Not at this time” I smiled, “but thank you. I’m still trying to get to know the game”

  “You may want to rethink that.”

  I nodded. “I may, but after I’ve leveled a bit more.” I thought for a minute and then came to a decision. “I’ll tell you the same thing I was going to tell the ladies. I don’t have a global quest, but I may know of one that starts in Dros Drin”