by Galen Wolf
Ahn shrugged. "We have to take that risk."
"And another favor, Ahn. Can I ask player characters of the Guild to station themselves here in Pennred whenever they log on and don't have urgent business to take them elsewhere?"
Ahn put his hand on my shoulder. "That's a most reasonable and sensible request. I'll put a message up on the Guild board. But now, I'll fly back to Woodheart and march those two units over through the forest. I'll have to take them down the Forest Path to the Old Stone Cross then up Ermine Street past the Jeweled Tree. It'll take until later tonight before they arrive."
"Sure thing boss. Thanks for the support."
He smiled. "No, thank you Barcud. You're doing a great job here."
I hoped he was right. I watched Ahn mount his eagle and flap up into the sky before wheeling and turning toward Woodheart.
From then on, I was extra vigilant. I went into stealth myself and stood close by the customs post while the village went about its business and traders came through on their carts and wagons complaining about the toll.
While I was there, I saw no further attacks on the militia. I observed patrols departing into the forest to sweep the area for threats. I couldn't stop that, because our miners and foresters out in the Old Forest, would otherwise fall prey to the re-spawning mobs.
I stood there at the gate, while I went through tasks on my HUD, then I went to see how my units were doing with their training.
Outside the Barracks, I watched the archers firing at the targets. At least now they were hitting them 50% of the time. I saw the unit had members who were level 2 and the occasional level 3. These were individually better soldiers although the unit itself still had a rocky rating. The skirmishers were also going through their combat roles. And once again I saw that some of them had leveled to level 2.
I went over to the Forge and saw my dwarf blacksmith Khuzud. He had NPCs working for him.
"Yo, Barcud," he said.
"You know my name?"
"You're the boss man. Of course I do."
"Thanks for coming to work in the village."
"I saw an opportunity so I moved in."
I said quietly. "You realize this will be a war zone soon?"
He shrugged. "The Horrabians? I hate those bastards anyway. Bring it. I say."
I set the instructions for him to produce swords of better quality than the skirmishers had. They were born with level 0 weapons my blacksmith Khuzud told me he could produce level I swords and he would improve even further in time with practice. We needed 40 swords, and I set the order for that. I saw he would take several hours to complete the order.
I then went back to the customs post and saw another guard had been killed. I was cursing when my old friend Griffin arrived. He brought another few of the Rangers’ Guild that I knew less well with him, Gearhart, and Sinuviel of the Silver Glades, and between us we worked out a rota. Tiredness clawed at me. I was going to have to log off soon as I'd been on all day and I needed to get something to eat in the real world and get some sleep.
Griffin told me it would be fine and he would take the next watch. There was something about Griffin that always reassured me. He was solid. I was taking one last turnaround the village to see how things were getting on before logging. Checking population, I noted that the village would soon level and that because I'd set housing to auto build, new village houses had been created and were awaiting inhabitants.
I was still pissed off because of the killings by the Horrabian spies. I certainly couldn't afford to have them sabotage village buildings. I stood on the main street looking up and down and saw Griffin at the northern gate with another ranger, I think it was Sinuviel. I turned to look south down Ermine Street toward Vinab and another player character was approaching on foot. That was unusual because most traffic was by cart. I didn't recognize the clothing or the armor of the character but it looked as if they were wearing cheap heavy armor like they were low-level. It was only when she got closer I recognized the figure as Elfhair.
My heart flipped over. My Elfhair had come back to the game.
6
Elfhair Returns
Elfhair walked into the centre of Pennred and looked around. She pointed at the buildings and the NPCs as they bustled around the streets. "So, this is all yours?"
I was so amazed and pleased to see her my jaw was almost hanging open. She looked as pretty as she had ever done with her red hair and green eyes. I shrugged. "The Rangers’ Guild asked me to do the work here at Pennred. But I can't claim it's mine – it belongs to the Guild."
"Ahn must really trust you", she said. She was smiling.
"I guess. But that's a good thing, isn't it?"
She came forward and gave me a hug. I felt awkward, but I was glad she hugged me. I stumbled over my words before managing, "Achilles told us you weren't coming back."
She twisted her mouth. "I wasn't going to. I thought I'd had a belly full of all this world could throw at me. After what they did..."
I shook my head. "They're such bastards. I've never met this Attila, but he seems worse even than Loki."
Elfhair winced. "Loki takes some beating in the evil stakes. But yes, you might be right – Attila might even be more of a shit than he is."
"I heard you lost all your stuff."
"Yeah, I lost it. Can't you see what I'm wearing?"
I looked at her. She was clad in shining heavy armor, but it looked cheap. Nothing compared to the mithril cuirass she had worn before. Her current armor was low-level. I could have used my Appraise skill to see her level, and her health and mana points, but it's rude to appraise someone without their permission. Of course, you do it to your enemies, but that's different.
"It's all pretty much starter stuff," said Elfhair. "But I've been doing a few quests since I've been back—over the past day or so. I managed to crawl my way back up to level 3."
"You've been back a day?" It was stupid, but I felt hurt she hadn't got in touch sooner.
"Yes, I logged in again yesterday morning. I just wandered round Vinab doing low-level quests then a couple of dungeons with pickup groups."
"Why didn't you let me know?" She owed me nothing, but I'd hoped she would get in touch. I'd been so worried about her.
She tilted her head to one side. "I didn't know you'd been concerned about me?"
I blushed. "Of course I was. I felt so bad at what happened to you. I wanted to go right up to Horrabia and kill the both of them."
She gave me a friendly punch on the arm. "I appreciate the sentiment, Barcud, but that would have been quite difficult. They're both pretty experienced level 20s."
"I killed Loki before."
She studied me. "Yes of course. I know you did. And that was fantastic and heroic; you had your wonderful knife. You still have her?"
I tapped Mournblade in her sheath on my belt. "Yes, I still have her, but unfortunately the devs nerfed her stats. They cut down her crit range and also, now on a crit, she only removes one level rather than one to four."
"It still sounds pretty nifty," Elfhair said.
I grinned. "Yeah, but I preferred her the way she was. Even though she was a little OP." I rubbed my eyes. "I was just about to call it a day. I've been here for hours."
"Don't let me stop you," Elfhair said. "I can have a little look around your village. It looks pretty. And very busy!"
I frowned. "It's not totally safe around here. The Horrabians have been sneaking in and killing NPCs. And with you so..."
"... weak?"
"I wasn't going to say that."
"But that's what you meant."
She was just the same, contrary, controversial, and cute. "Ah, Elfhair. I'm so glad to see you back and I'm so sorry for what happened. Is there any way I can help you out with gear or money?"
"I had money in the bank. Anyway, I'm a strong independent woman. I can look after myself."
"I never said you couldn't; I was just offering my help." I paused. "And my companionship."
/> "Your companionship? That sounds pretty fancy."
"Well it's there if you want it. I thought we could do some questing. But not tonight, I'm too beat."
"I'll just amble around here for a bit then."
"I wish you wouldn't, Elfhair. We're too close to Horrabia."
She grinned. "I can look after myself, Barcud boy. I've been playing this game a long time and even if my level is low, I know the tricks." She pointed. "Anyway, I see my old friend Griffin and some of the other Rangers’ Guild by that gate. I think I'll go have a chat with them. You get off and get some sleep. Maybe see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah that would be cool."
"Maybe we could do some quests then. But don't power level me."
To stop lower-level characters being helped too much by higher-level characters the Greenwood had a power leveling penalty. For every four levels above you the higher-level character was, you lost 10% of the XP you would have gained if you done the quest alone.
I stroked my chin. "What did you say—that you're Level 3?"
She nodded.
"Well I'm just Level 10. So that means you'll only lose 10% by my calculations. It's not that bad."
She whistled. "You're only Level 10? What have you been doing – slacking?"
I harrumphed, and gestured to the village around us. "What does this look like – Scotch mist? I've been busy, let me tell you - my fine priestess friend." I twitched. "It's just building villages doesn't gain you XP or help you level."
I was exhausted now and I needed to log off, but I still lingered. She waved and ambled off in the direction of Griffin. Already Griffin was turning to see who it was approaching, and he recognized her with a tremendous beam on his face. I was stupidly jealous at first – but then pushed it away. When she was halfway between Griffin and me, she turned and gave me a sweet smile.
7
Rohan's Blessing
The next day I logged on again at Pennred. We now had the comms so I began to oversee the upgrade of the barracks. As usual there was a sound of sawing and clouds of dust and the new improved barracks emerged. The parade ground was also improved and instead of being beaten grass, it was now a hard clay surface. I noticed that the archer regiment and the skirmishers had improved and were in general Level 4 each. They continued to practice their skills as I watched, under the barked orders of their sergeants. Above, a buzzard mewed as it sailed out on an updraft from the greenery of the Old Forest nearby.
At some point that day the two regiments of spearmen that Ahn was bringing over from Woodheart should arrive.
I checked the food and timber levels and saw that the dwarf blacksmith Khuzud, was nearly finished the order of Level 1 swords I planned to give to the skirmishers regiment.
Overnight, there had been no fatalities among the customs guards and I saw we had collected 80 gold pieces in tolls from traders using Ermine Street.
Everything seemed to be going well. One of the Rangers – an elf girl called Sinuviel - was on duty. She stood in leather armor, a bow on her back. She brushed her straight red hair from her eyes. Red hair was a fashion among elf-girls, it seemed. We had a brief conversation and she told me that all had been quiet since she'd been on duty. She'd used the time to go through her inventory then sort out some poison combos she was planning to use in her next duel.
I was standing there in front of the Corn Mill enjoying the sunshine when a dove fluttered in and dropped a letter. I leaned down and picked it up, breaking open the red seal with a sweep of my thumb. The red wax seal had an Elvish letter E on it. I'd never received a personal message from Elfhair before and I was excited to open it. Once again, I reminded myself of the foolishness of virtual relationships. However, I couldn't help it. I never wanted to feel like this, it just crept up on me.
The letter said that she was around if I wanted to group with her. I looked at my HUD and I searched for Elfhair among the players online. I then sent a join group message to her. She instantly clicked on it and from then we could communicate via HUD.
Elfhair: I wanted to take you up on your offer of doing a quest. I really need XP and I'm sorry if I sounded a little ungrateful yesterday. I'm still trying to get my head around what happened to me. So, I'm sorry if that made me a little grumpy.
Me: Don't worry. There is a quest I fancy doing. I don't know if you've heard of it or ever done it before? It's called the Mystery of Armboth Hall.
Elfhair: I've never done it. It's a relatively new quest I think. Isn't it south-west of Avalon in the Silver Glades?
Me: It is, but I think the quest giver is in Vinab. He should teleport us to the quest rather than us having to travel there.
Elfhair: I'm looking it up now. Looks a good quest and not particularly fighting heavy. It's more of a puzzle quest I think. I prefer those.
Me: I wanted to pick it up because the XP is really good. I wonder if that's because people prefer fighting quests so, to get players to venture into puzzle quest, the developers have to offer better XP.
Elfhair: Who knows? But I think a full party's six.
That was correct.
Elfhair: I wonder if we could really short man it. I think it's a Level 10 quest.
Me: It is a Level 10 quest but you'll be okay with me. Don't forget I've got my Wolf companion and the figurine of the Forlorn Tiger that I can call up.
Elfhair: Even so I think we might need someone to come along with us.
Me: We can't afford to get anyone too high-level, because of the power-leveling penalty, so who do you suggest?
To tell the truth I was slightly disappointed Elfhair wanted someone else to come along with us but what she was saying made sense. There was no point us going into the quest and getting slaughtered and failing to get any XP at all.
Elfhair: Do you know Astral Bob? He's the spymaster of Vinab. He's an old pal of mine.
Me: Yes, I met him at Rohan's birthday party. He seems a decent guy. I'm not sure if he completely trusted me but he accepted the word of Ahn and Ajora when they vouched for me.
Elfhair: Okay then. I'll meet you in the middle of Vinab square.
I was about to whistle my eagle Aquila, when I saw someone walking into the village from the south-east.
It was the antler haired fey who was the Guildmaster of the Druids’ Guild, Rohan – the guy whose birthday party I'd been to the other day in Avalon.
He walked slowly up the dusty main street of Pennred with his hands clasped behind his back. His antlers looked even more amazing in the sunlight than they had in the light of the magic lanterns back in Avalon. He was smiling broadly as he looked around. The NPCs seemed to be fascinated by him and they ran up and stared while he patted the heads of the children and greeted the men and women as they went about their duties. He even leaned down to tickle a cat under its chin.
I walked up and said hi.
He smiled broadly. "It's a great job you've done here – building this village. It's so full of life and I can feel the positive energy of the people. You brought it to life with love, and that shows."
"It's really kind of you to say that, Rohan. I was just about to leave – I don't suppose you fancy joining us on a quest?" I knew he must be Level 20 and he would seriously damage our XP, but he was a nice guy and the words of invitation just tumbled out of my mouth.
He shook his head. "No, I have some duties to fulfil back in Avalon I just wanted to see your new village. You go and quest and have fun." He seemed reticent about something. I'd noticed that shyness back at his birthday party, but I remembered that once he was encouraged, he put on the most amazing fire show.
He cocked his head to the side winningly and said, "I hope you wouldn't think it presumptuous of me if I blessed your village?"
I was taken aback but felt honored that he was making this offer. I shook my head. "No, of course I wouldn't feel you're being presumptuous. It would be an amazing thing if you could do that."
I hesitated. He studied me and smiled. "I guess you're wondering what benefi
t my blessing would provide?"
I tried to deny it. How could I be so rude as to think about any mercenary advantage the blessing would give us? But, of course, I had thought that.
He knew I thought it too. "The blessing of the druids will increase the fertility of your crops and animals for one thing. It'll also make your workers happy, and happy workers are more productive. You should also see an increase in the rate they level."
"That's absolutely fantastic. I can't thank you enough."
His brow darkened. "These are difficult times. You know that we in the Druids’ Guild are pacifists. We are not aggressive people, but we're not fools either. We know that the Horrabian war machine will flatten us, and we're glad and grateful for the help of the Rangers’ Guild and any of our other allies in stopping this evil. That means that, although I can't break the oath of pacifism, I would like to help you – because helping you is helping the forest."
I watched while he intoned the magic words, and spread his hands out. Colored lights danced from his finger ends and flew out like energized thistledown, until the whole village hummed and vibrated with the magic of his words, the rhythm flowing in time with the gestures of his hands. All the NPCs halted their work and turned to look with expressions of wonder on their faces. It was almost as if he was filling them with light – and I remembered that Rohan was the favorite of the God of Light – Apollo. It was almost divine what he was doing there. The magic incantation only lasted a few minutes but I swear even the birds and the dogs and cats stopped to listen to him.
And when it was done, the most amazing feeling of well-being coursed through me, and I could see from the looks on the faces of the NPC's they felt it too. I turned to see Sinuviel at the customs post was smiling broadly. She shouted back to me, "All hail the druid's Blessing!"
A flight of songbirds fluttered and chirruped along the main street over our heads, as if doing a celebratory fly-past.
The NPCs and Ranger player characters assembled in the village burst into spontaneous applause. Without planning to, I joined in and clapped him. Once again, Rohan showed me that while there was tremendous wickedness and evil displayed by the players in the Greenwood – there was also great good too. Surely, that was worth defending.
