Nodding, Jace stabbed Duglas with both daggers.
You critically hit Swampskull Goblin for 9 damage.
You critically hit Swampskull Goblin for 5 damage.
Swampskull Goblin dies.
You gain 20 experience.
Duglas’s goblin body slumped to the ground and Jace received updates for the two wolf related quests. After a moment, the body began to change and elongate until it looked like a blond human with tan skin and a surfer’s physique. He remembered what had happened to his own body when he’d used the code and how painful it had been.
Looking at the human body in front of him, Jace had to assume that it had worked and that Duglas would respawn as a human. Tentatively, Jace tried looting the body but received a system message.
You may not loot a player’s body until it expires.
Jace smiled at the message. It said “player’s body” which meant it had worked. Excitedly, Jace wondered if Duglas would respawn in town. Since he had nothing else to do in the forest, he decided to go check. “Come on Luna!”
He and his familiar jogged back to town and checked in the graveyard but there was no sign of him. Leaving the graveyard, they made a quick circuit of the town but there was no sign of him. He must have spawned elsewhere. Silently, Jace wished him well wherever he was. And Jace promised he’d remember his name when he finally got someone in support to fix him. Then they could fix Duglas too.
With Duglas gone, Jace’s thoughts turned to Charlena. He’d barely known her. They’d only played together a day, but he already missed her. He wasn’t sure why. Was it because she was the only real person he’d met so far - except for Duglas? Or was it because she was an attractive woman? Or was it the way they’d seemed to get along so well today.
Jace didn’t know. He just hoped she’d be back.
He turned to look at Luna, who’d been quiet since they’d met Duglas. “You okay Luna?”
The cat stared at him before answering. “Yes.”
He wasn’t entirely convinced, but he’d take her word for it. If he had to guess, her programming might be having a difficult time processing what had happened since it had occurred outside the normal game parameters. After all, monsters didn’t normally morph into players. Jace hoped she would be okay. If he lost Luna, he’d be completely alone. And he was surprised at just how much that frightened him.
To keep himself busy, he spent the rest of the night scouting out the area between the farms. Most of it was forest, but to the west, where he’d killed the goblins, it was hilly. He hadn’t found any monsters of any sort. Not even wolves or coyotes. That seemed strange. If this was a newbie town, there should be monsters to kill. After all, that’s how new players mostly leveled up - killing monsters. Well, killing monsters and doing quests. He’d found plenty of quests, but almost no monsters.
Then he remembered the wolf furs and wolf head that Duglas had been wearing. Had he been killing the aggressive wildlife around the area? That would make sense. He’d need to eat and would have wanted to clear the area of anything that would be a danger to him. That made sense.
But while it made sense, it also made Jace’s life a little more difficult. There was nothing for him to kill and gain experience. He was limited to only quests unless he wanted to venture further into the forests. But the further he went, the more likely he was to run into things far higher level than he was. Still, that might end up being an option.
As day broke, he made his way back to the town. When the tavern opened, he went inside and bought some breakfast. What he ordered was called a Full Halfling Breakfast and consisted of bacon, eggs, and sausages, as well as a grilled tomato, mushrooms, fried onions, and some toast.
While Luna didn’t care for the sausages or bacon directly, she did enjoy licking up the bacon grease and the egg yolks.
After finishing breakfast, he wandered around town for several hours, waiting to see if Charlena was going to show up. The hours seemed to pass especially slowly and when noon came, Jace realized she wasn’t coming back.
Chapter 18
When Charlena didn’t appear, Jace and Luna ate a lunch of fish and chips at the tavern. This time, Jace had enough gold to afford an ale and washed down his meal with a pint of the tavern’s finest. He briefly considered drinking himself into a drunken stupor. After all, it was possible to get drunk on in-game alcohol through some miracle in the way the FEVRE pods interacted with the person’s brain. But in the end, he had so little money, he couldn’t afford to waste any on getting drunk.
Instead, he went to the general store and bought a set of lockpicks and a fishing pole. The lockpicks would help him practice his Lockpicking skill. The fishing pole would allow him to catch fish in nearly any water source. That would allow him to save some money while in town and be crucial for catching food once he left town. Assuming he could find a lake or stream to fish from out in the wild.
Next, he went back to some of the farms and finished up the other quests they’d received. These weren’t nearly as interesting as they were delivery quests, go fetch this for me and bring it back and I’ll pay you. But despite the tedium, they each paid 2 gold and gave 50 experience.
Several hours later, as he turned in his 8th quest, a glowing aura surrounded him, and he saw the system message he’d been waiting for.
You have gained a level.
You are now level 2 in Mage.
You gain 6 health.
You gain 6 mana.
Finally, he had reached his second level in Mage. Because it was his highest class, he received additional health and mana. He now had 14 health and 10 mana, nearly double what he’d had before. He’d now have a fighting chance against monsters his level.
He now had a choice. Since Mage was now his highest level, he could switch classes again. That meant he could switch back to Rogue. Or he could switch to Fighter or Priest. Fighter would give him the ability to use any armor or weapon, whereas Priest would give him access to healing magic and buffs.
He considered what his next step was. He still needed to reach the capital in order to find the Help Desk. That was the only way he could contact support and get this situation resolved. And now he wasn’t just doing this for himself, he knew from Duglas that others had been affected and he just might be the only one who could help them.
He needed to make it to the capital. And he needed to do it as quickly as possible. That meant he needed to leave Sinking Springs and brave the wilderness between towns. That was no easy task for a group of low level characters. There was no set level limit on the monsters in the wilderness. He could run into a level 1 coyote or a level 50 ogre. At his level, Jace couldn’t hope to defeat high level monsters. He would need to rely on stealth and avoidance. And that meant Rogue.
Going back into his HUD, he switched classes to Rogue. He was now a level 1 Rogue again. He’d now have to hit level 3 in Rogue if he wanted to switch classes again and it would take some time for that to happen. He hoped he’d made the right choice.
He looked at the last two quests in his journal. They were the wolf quests he’d done with Charlena. He’d been putting off turning them in case she returned but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Still, he could wait one more day. The farms were still giving him quests, so he could keep himself busy for now. But if she hadn’t logged in by tomorrow, he would turn them in.
With that decided, Jace looked at the sky. The sun was still several hours away from setting so he had time to do some more quests before the NPCs started their evening schedules. He should be able to get in at least ten more quests before sunset.
Resuming his circuit from farm to farm, Jace went to Coy and Haylei’s farm to get another quest from them. They waved when they saw him approach.
“Hello Dedrurrurth,” said Coy as he approached them. Jace cringed inwardly but forced a smile. After reaching a certain level of faction, people in town had begun automatically calling him by name, which was still Dedrurrurth.
“Hello
Coy,” Jace responded. The nice thing about having a HUD is that you never forgot a NPCs name. You could look it up instantly. Too bad he hadn’t had one of those back in the real world. He was constantly forgetting names. “Can I help you with anything?”
Coy looked over at his wife who shook her head. “I’m afraid we don’t need any help at the moment. Unless you’re good with a plow.”
Jace waited a moment to see if a quest would appear. When it didn’t he politely smiled at the couple. “Maybe another time. I should see if any of the other farms are having any issues with … um… monsters or… things.”
“Alrighty,” said Coy. “Always a pleasure to see you Dedrurrurth.”
“Make sure you’re in before dark,” Haylei called after him.
Leaving Coy and Haylei behind, Jace went to the next farm down the road but received the same thing. And he received the same thing from the next one as well. The odd thing was the way they ended the conversation. Both times they’d told him to make sure to be in before dark. That was new. To test his theory, he walked to the last farm down the south road, Jebediah’s farm.
Jebediah was an older man whose wife had been killed by goblins a few years ago. Now he lived alone and had asked Jace to fetch various things from the village for him so he didn’t have to leave his farm.
As Jace approached, Jebediah waved to him. “Good day Dedrurrurth. Not that I don’t mind you visiting, but you should be heading back to town.”
“Why is that?” Jace asked him.
“Ain’t safe around here after dark,” the old man told him.
“What do you mean? I’ve been out at night before.”
Jebediah made a warding gesture. “On account of the Reaping.”
The name gave Jace the shivers. “What is the Reaping?”
The old man looked around as if expecting to see someone. “We don’t really talk about on account that it might scare people away. Especially the caravans.” Jebediah motioned him closer conspiratorially. “But, since people around here know you, I reckon it’s okay to tell you.”
Jace nodded for him to continue.
“You know Aldor wasn’t always a united kingdom. Five hundred years ago, it was two rivalling kingdoms, Stroania and Jothuela. As it happens, Sinking Springs was originally a border outpost of Stroania. This was all Stroania, but twenty miles west was Jothuela and their necromancers,” Jebediah spit and made a warding sign again before continuing.
“Well, as you know, Stroania and Jothuela eventually went to war. What most people don’t realize is that one of the first battles was right on this spot. Right here in Sinking Springs!” The old man waved his arms around indicating the entire area. “The black army marched up and attacked the outpost and almost took it before reinforcements arrived.”
“King Ackert himself showed up through some magic portal with a whole mess of his Knights of the Griffon and they pushed back the Black Company and killed the leader, a necromancer general named Mimira Sanguis.”
“Of course,” the man spat again. “Them darn Jothuelans blamed Stroania and claimed they’d actually been the invaders. That’s what’s what started the Twenty Year War. And it would have gone on even longer if King Ackert’s son hadn’t killed Stauzor The Demon - only he won’t a real demon, just a necromancer but people called him that.”
Jace waited for Jebediah to continue but the man stayed silent. “So… what does that have to do with the reaping?”
The man gave him a disbelieving look. “What do you mean what does it have to do with it? Mimira Sanguis was buried not 5 miles from here.” Jebediah emphasized his point by pointing west. “For two nights a month, when the black moon is full, the dead soldiers of the Jothuelan army arise to take their vengeance on the living! Been happening for the last five years.”
The world of VEIL had three moons. The white moon, Geal, which was home of the good gods. Then there was Dearg, the red moon, where the neutral gods lived. And finally, there was Dubh, where the evil gods made their abode. Jace frowned. It was said that only evil beings could see Dubh. He’d been able to see it as a vampyre, but as he looked into the night’s sky, he couldn’t see it with his human eyes.
He eyed Jebediah suspiciously. “How do you know Dubh is full?”
The man’s eyes went wide, and he made his warding gesture. “Don’t say the name of the dark moon! Tis an ill omen! And no, I don’t be calling on the dark gods. All farmers can tell. The day before and the two days of it being full, the milk curdles, and the hens lay nothing but rotten eggs. The dead will be out tonight. Mark my words. You best be inside before they do.”
Jace looked around at the farmer’s cattle and sheep. “What about your herd?”
Shaking his head, Jebediah gestured to the livestock. “The dead don’t want them. Ain’t them what killed the necromancer. They only go after humans… well and elves and dwarves and such. All them that served in Stroania’s army.” The man made a shooing gesture. “Get on back to the village. They’ll let you board there tonight.”
Nodding, Jace turned and ran towards the village. Behind him, he heard the Jebediah’s parting words. “Don’t come out at night! No matter what you hear!”
Jace ran until his stamina was nearly completely gone then slowed to a walk. Jebediah’s farm was the furthest from town and he knew from experience it was a good half hour walk. Looking to the west, the sun had just touched the horizon. He had twenty or thirty minutes before it would dip below.
He should have time to reach the village, but he had no idea exactly when the undead would rise or from where.
From a game standpoint, he wasn’t sure if this was some sort of quest, an event or if it were a dungeon. Perhaps all of the above. This could be a good opportunity to earn experience by killing the undead, but until he knew more, he wasn’t inclined to risk it. One or two at a time he might be able to handle, but a swarm of undead who could easily overwhelm him. Best to play it safe or he could spend all night dying and respawning.
Jace kept alternating between walking and running until he reached the village. The sun had just dipped beneath the horizon, so he ran straight to the tavern. The door was locked and all the windows were shuttered. Desperately, he banged on the door but there was no answer. He ran around to the side and banged on that door. No one answered. He turned and ran to the store, banging on the door hard enough to make his fists hurt. There was no answer.
He turned to run to another building when he heard Luna hiss and he heard the first unearthly moan.
Chapter 19
Jace spun around, looking for the source of the moans but even with his Cat-Vision, he saw nothing. His heart was racing, and the blood was pounding in his ears but he tried to focus. Where were they?
Luna had moved behind him and was still hissing. He spared a quick glance down at her. “It’ll be okay.”
“No,” she sent back, and her voice was frightened.
He needed to find shelter. He needed to get in one of these buildings, but how? He’d briefly thought about picking the lock but he guessed that if the windows were shuttered, the doors were locked and barred. He needed another way.
Scanning the buildings in the area, Jace got an idea. If he couldn’t go in, maybe he could go up. Most low level undead couldn’t climb, they mostly shambled. If he could get somewhere, they couldn’t reach, he might be safe. He might be.
As Jace looked closer at the nearby buildings, he realized Tudor style buildings didn’t make good climbing structures. In fact, nearly all of them had an overhang where the second floor met the first. He remembered reading somewhere that it was called a jetty. No matter what it was called, it would make climbing them much more difficult.
“Tree!” Luna meowed in something that was half meow and half whine. Following her gaze, he saw what she was referring to. One of the houses had a tree close enough that one of the branches overhung the top of the house.
The only problem was, there were no lower branches that he could use to get up.
The moaning was growing louder and now Jace could just start to see shapes moving at the edges of his vision to the west, making their way towards town. There were dozens of them, and they were moving fast! He didn’t have time to figure out how to climb the tree. He needed to find a place to hold out. And he needed to find it fast.
His hands hurt and he looked down at his knuckles, which had gone white from his death grips on his daggers. He tilted his head as he looked at his dagger. He stared at the rat fang dagger he’d gotten from Den Mother. Then it hit him. Ralf’s cellar! It might be strong enough to withstand the undead. And right now, it seemed to be the only place he might be able to get to. Without another thought, he took off towards Ralf’s place with Luna at his heels.
It only took him a couple of minutes to reach Ralf’s home and just like the others, the windows were shuttered, and he guessed the door was barred. He ran around the house to the cellar to find it had been relocked. He started to look in his inventory for the key but remembered he’d given it back to Ralf when he’d completed the quest.
Looking west, he could now discern the vague forms of skeletons running into town. Tall, thin forms with tattered pieces of armor or clothes. Some were stopping and pounding on doors with their bony fists. Others were continuing on to find other houses. He’d guessed it would only be a matter of minutes before they reached him.
He looked down at the padlock on the cellar and remembered his lockpicks! He didn’t hesitate. Grabbing his picks from his inventory, he went to work on the lock.
Critical failure!
Your pick has broken.
Your Lockpicking skill has increased by 1.
Jace had been trying too hard and had broken one of his picks. He only had 2 left. Glancing towards the center of town, he could see the skeletal creatures were much closer. Their long, thin limbs moving unnaturally in the dark. He needed to get inside now!
Veil Online - Book 1 (a LitRPG MMORPG Adventure Series) Page 12
