“Good work,” said Butters. “Now, one last tip. Always aim for the center of your group of targets. Do not aim for center mass, but attack the center of your target area. You have two dummies in front of you, right? Aim for the space between them. If there were three and they were spaced equally from each other, then aim for the one in the middle. Got it?”
“Yeah, got it,” I answered.
“Good, now get out of here. I have got more work to do and I am sure you are just itching to test out your new skill on some poor, unsuspecting woodland critters.”
“Those wolves have it coming,” I joked with him.
“Maybe they do, maybe they do not. You ever consider, maybe we have it coming? We are invading their home turf, no? Just food for thought,” he offered.
That was very philosophical. I hadn’t expected that from the sergeant. If I were honest with myself, I don’t even think I would have expected that from any other NPC either. It also got me wondering about the wolves, where did they come from? Why were they such a problem for Hurligville?
Without giving it much thought, I returned to the townhall and sat on the steps to wait for the building to open. I wanted to ask the mayor about it. It shouldn’t have been a mystery, wolves have got to eat too, but why attack humans? Wasn’t the forest full of easier prey? Did something happen to agitate the wolves?
Before I knew it, the mayor had arrived.
“Morning Mayor Simper,” I greeted him.
“Morning Bye-bye, having a productive morning already?”
“Somewhat, I got in some training with Sergeant Butters.”
“Good man, we are lucky to have him. You know, he used to be a knight in service to King Leopold the 8th?” asked Homer, pride beaming on his face.
“I had no idea,” and I truly didn’t. To think, the sergeant was actually a knight. Shouldn’t he be an officer? If it is true, why is he a sergeant now?
“I do not know his whole story, so do not ask. What I do know is not for me to share, so again, do not ask,” said the mayor, cutting me off, clearly seeing I had questions. “Now, I am just guessing, but you did not come here to discuss the sergeant’s past, so why not see what I can do to help you this fine morning?”
He was right, the mystery of Sergeant Butters could wait. I had another mystery just clawing at me. “I was wondering about the wolves.”
“What about them? They are a menace. What more is there to know?” asked the mayor, confused by my question.
“I don’t know, they just seem way too aggressive. Wolves don’t usually encroach upon a settlement this large the way these do,” I explained my reasoning for being curious.
“Huh,” said the Mayor, a thoughtful look on his face. “I cannot say I know either. It has been this way since before I was born, as far as I know anyway. Maybe the town history will give you a clue.” He gestured toward the bookshelf.
Quest Alert: Breaking the curse of the Wolves 1 (Recommended Level 4-5)
Mayor Simper has suggested looking into the town history for the source of the wolf problem.
Reward: Experience
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
“I’ll definitely look into it,” I said, accepting the quest. This was the kind of thing I gamed for. A mystery to be solved. And the way it was worded, could there be an actual curse placed upon the village?
“Good luck to you. Let me know what you find out. Have a good afternoon,” he said his farewell, leaving me to the bookshelf, while he went back into his office.
That was something I had noticed as well. The NPC interactions were smoothing out. On the first day, I couldn’t help but notice how choppy and incomplete they seemed. I wonder if the AI wasn’t learning the more it interacted. I wondered, if the first-day behavior was learned based on their interactions with other players, then it might make more sense. It was a fact, most players talk to NPC’s only long enough to get a quest before they bolt from the room to go do it. My first day here, it seemed the NPC’s expected me to bolt the instant I got the quest, so they had no frame of reference for how to end a conversation, or maybe they were just surprised I stuck around. It was just a thought and one I couldn’t prove but still . . . more food for thought.
Snapping out of my internal thoughts, I looked to the bookshelf for the town history. I found the book on the third shelf from the top, it was ‘Hurligville Vol I: The Founding’ and ‘Hurligville Vol II: Years 5-10’. There were at least twenty more volumes each covering a 10-year time span. This might take me a while to read through all of it.
I looked at the game clock to figure out my next move, it was just about 10:00 already. I stuck the first two volumes in my bag. It was time to head for Farmer Johnsons to pick up the mayor’s moonshine. Why did I feel a hangover coming to me in the near future?
Chapter 7
The walk to the farm was quiet. No wolf attacks or other little critters giving me troubles. It wasn’t until I was about halfway to the farm I noticed the sky was darkening ahead of me as if a storm was brewing. Then I smelled smoke and started running. When I emerged from the woods, Duke’s fields were on fire as was the barn and house.
“Oh, no,” I whispered in shock. I started sprinting for the house, hoping to get there in time to help. I found Duke dragging his wife out of the house and ran to help him.
“Duke,” I called to him, as I got closer.
“Help me move her!” he called back as he worked to drag his wife clear of the burning house.
I immediate lifted his wife’s feet and helped him carry her away from the house and the burning fields. There was so much smoke, it was hard to breathe in the suffocating heat. I have no idea how Duke was able to run into the house and pull his wife out. I was especially shocked as I got a closer look at Duke. His shoulder was bloody, a stab wound was steadily leaking blood. Then I checked his wife. She had a bloody gash on her forehead and cut across her stomach bleeding profusely. I was surprised either of them survived as low as their health bars appeared to be.
Once we set her down, Duke simply held on to her, whispering assurances.
I started to chain cast as many ‘Lesser Heal’ spells as I could, targeting the cut in her stomach, unsure if targeted casting even worked. I had tried a few times to target a specific injury while training with Sergeant Butter when I got hurt training. It seemed to work, but I just wasn’t certain. When my mana pool emptied, I drank mana water and started again. After completely emptying two of my canteens I’d finally stabilized her. She was weak but didn’t appear to be in danger of dying.
Once I knew she was going to be okay, I cast a few on Duke as well, at least until the bleeding had stopped. I finally had a chance to look up from my work. How hadn’t I noticed the look on Duke’s face? He stared at me with such gratitude. I can’t recall ever seeing such gratitude from someone, not in real life. “You never told me you were a priest.”
“It didn’t matter,” I said.
“I can never thank you enough for saving her,” he said, elated didn’t begin to convey how happy he was. “Tell me, what god or goddess you serve, and I will offer her prayers of gratitude for the rest of my days.”
“I serve Issara, goddess of justice and retribution,” I answered.
Duke seemed genuinely surprised by my answer then I saw a dark look cross his face. “Priest of Issara, I charge you, seek justice for what transpired here today. Hunt down the two bandits who burned my farm and tried to murder me and my wife. Please, I beg you, bring us justice,” his last words more of a plea than the charge he started out.
Class Quest Alert: Seek Justice for Farmer Johnson and his wife (Recommended Level 4-5)
Duke Johnson’s farm has been sacked by a pair of bandits. You have been charged to serve justice and capture or eliminate the criminals. Time Limit 02:00:00
Reward: Experience, Bounty Marker, Hidden
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
I felt this man’s pain, he may have been an NPC, but I only saw a person asking . . . begging for justice. “Of course, I will see Issara’s justice done, I could do no less.”
“Thank you, priest,” he said, head bowed reverently.
“Can you tell me anything about the bandits? Which direction they went would be very helpful?” I requested, it wouldn’t do me any good to run off without some idea where to go.
“They were trolls, both ran south toward the road. I would bet they are making a run for the portal to the World Tree. If you hurry, you can catch up to them. They did not have horses or those weird lizards’ trolls are known to ride on, so they will be on foot I think,” answered Duke.
“Did you see any weapons?”
“One had two daggers, the other big sword.”
“What did they steal? I’ll be sure to bring it back if I can.”
“They took what little money we had and my wife’s jewelry. And worst of all, they stole all my moonshine,” Duke answered. He didn’t look upset about the lost items until he spoke of the lost hooch. I badly want to shake my head in disbelief.
Quest Alert: Shiny Delivery Service 2 - Complete
Return to Farmer Johnson in one day.
Reward: +200 Experience
I couldn’t believe this quest was still going, let alone considered completed. I suppose I shouldn’t have been too surprised it was then followed up.
Quest Alert: Shiny Delivery Service 3 (Recommended Level 3-5)
Farmer Johnson’s moonshine has been stolen and asks you to recover it from the thieves.
Reward: Experience, 2-Silver, Variable Piece of Gear
Do you accept this Quest?
Yes
No
“I’ll get your booze back if I can. Will you be okay to get back to town?”
“We will, as soon as the missus awakens, we will make our way there,” he answered.
“Okay, I’ll be going.”
“The road is to the south but if you go southeast you might be able to cut them off sooner,” he advised, seeing me already in motion.
“Thanks, I’ll meet you in town shortly,” I replied, already starting to pick up some speed as I ran due southeast. I didn’t know if this was the work of other players, or if this was an area event, or if it was simply part of a quest chain, and I’m not sure I even cared. Right now, I just wanted to get justice for the farmer and his wife.
I had to stop after about 20-minutes of running to drink from one of the stamina canteens. Then ran again for another twenty until I hit the road. I know ‘Beast Tracking’ only works on animals, but it did give me knowledge enough to be able to check the road for recent activity. As far as I was able to discern, the road hadn’t been touched, except by a few wolves running across it chasing a deer and none of their prints were broken by anyone else tracking through them.
I kind of grinned a little, I had beat them here and had a chance to set up an ambush. Unfortunately, I had no skill in setting up traps and I probably wouldn’t have had time as I could now hear voices coming up the road. I had very few choices for an ambush. If I could find a tall tree with a branch that extended over the road, I could drop on top of them. I just had to hope they wouldn’t notice me, which meant the objective tree needed to have plenty of leaves for coverage if I was going to surprise them.
I ran up the road, continuing easterly looking for just the right tree. I found the perfect tree about 500-yards up the road. I climbed the tree, which wasn’t as difficult as I expected it to be. My original assumption was that it would require a skill of some kind, but it didn’t.
Once I had climbed up the tree and out clambered out on a limb overhanging the road, I tried to focus on slowing my breathing, moving as little as possible, waiting for the two bandits to approach.
I saw the two trolls coming up the road, laughing and joking as they passed a mason jar back and forth between them. They were NPC’s both labeled accordingly,
Inebriated – Earned by consuming too much alcohol causes -10 Dexterity -10 Intellect
I knew I would need to kill the bandit first if I wanted any chance of surviving this encounter.
It was an agonizing two minutes of waiting for them to walk under me. Two minutes of not moving or twitching. Two minutes of willing myself not to sweat or even breathe heavily. And finally, the moment was here, I simply fell forward with my spear right in front of me, lancing forward as I fell. I speared the
Instead, I was quickly scrambling back to my feet and desperately pulling my spear free of the corpse. The cutthroat looked shocked, but only for a moment before he was reaching for the large sword strapped across his back. I shifted into the cutthroat and used my ‘Shield Slam’ preventing him from even drawing his weapon. I then followed up with a pair of ‘Jab’ attacks hitting his left arm and shoulder causing a crippled limb debuff. I was about to finish him when the unexpected happened.
“Wait, stop, I surrender,” grunted the troll, his only good hand, and arm trying to stop the bleeding from his other arm. As he said it, he dropped to his knees with his head bowed.
I was sorely tempted to just finish him off but refrained. I served justice, not revenge even if you could argue retribution was the same as revenge. “Drop your sword, armor, bags and anything else you may be carrying except for the clothes you’re wearing.” I kept my spear ready to strike if he tried anything. I saw then the troll gained a debuff ‘Captured’ which was followed by giving me another +60-experience.
The troll moved slowly but eventually dropped everything I could see. “Now, face down in the dirt,” I ordered. I didn’t have anything to tie him up with so, for now, I’d have to improvise and hope the captured debuff was sufficient to hold him.
With the trolls face firmly planted in the ground, I picked up everything the troll dropped. Then I looted the other guy clean, except again for his clothes.
“Has your arm stopped bleeding?” I asked, giving the troll a prodding with the tip of my spear.
“Looks like,” he replied. I know trolls get a regeneration bonus, but I wasn’t sure how strong it was. I checked him again, the health was still in the yellow and he still had the crippled debuff on his arm but there was no longer a bleed effect.
“Okay, get up, pick up your buddy’s body with your good arm. We’re going back to the village where you will face justice,” I stated clearly. The troll looked afraid, he was resigned to his fate. He hefted the dead body up over his good shoulder and started trudging back down the road.
It took about an hour and a half to make the walk, taking one short break for some water. I was met about a hundred yards from the village by six of the village guards include Sergeant Butters.
“Well now, this is quite the surprise,” greeted Butters, his grizzled mug grinning from ear to ear.
“Did Duke and his wife make it to the village?” I asked, worried about the farmer.
“Aye, he and the missus showed about fifteen minutes ago, both of them pretty banged up but alive. From what they said, without you, they certainly would have perished.”
I nodded, feeling relief. “Thank goodness. These two were the ones responsible,” I said, prodding the still living troll for good measure, making him stumble forward a step.
“Good man,” said Butters, then turning to his men. “Grunk and Teve, take the prisoner and the corpse into custody. Put the survivor in the stocks and lay out his partner next to him. We will have Duke identify them later.” He then turned back to me. “Did you take their stuff?”
“Yeah,
here it is,” I removed all of their stuff from my inventory and handed it over to him. Everything except for the stolen hooch, which was a quest item and wouldn’t let me hand it over. He motioned for his remaining men to collect the stuff. “I have an item Duke asked me to retrieve for him, is it okay if I least give it back to him directly?”
“Yeah, should probably give him back these too,” Sergeant Butters passed an item back to me, a quick look and I put in my bag. “As for the rest, you will get your share once we have fully dealt with the situation,” he said, confusing me slightly.
“What share?” I asked, confused by the statement.
“Spoils, son. You captured them, you get a share of the spoils from the things they had in their possession,” he explained. “But first we have to go through it all and see what they had, and what was stolen, or at least reported stolen, then see about returning it. Should take about a week, maybe two. It all depends on their bounties if they have any, but I am sure a fine upstanding pair of bandits such as these two has at least one or two of them apiece. Just have to wait for a runner to go to the Root City bounty offices and gather the necessary information.”
“Oh,” was my eloquent and intelligent reply. I hadn’t heard anything about this, it certainly made for an interesting aspect of the game. Bounties on bandits was an old idea, but it usually required you just bring back proof of death in such games. The idea of being able to capture an enemy combatant was completely new.
“Don’t worry about it, kid. For now, I’m sure Duke and his wife will be more than happy to see you are alright. They are in the townhall now with Mayor Semper and Priestess Trinico who was working on healing them up last I saw,” explained Butters.
Suddenly, I was feeling drained as the adrenaline, which had been coursing through me just moments before, had suddenly dropped off. I really just wanted to return to the inn and take a nap, but I had a pair of quests to finish first.
The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive Page 12
