You receive Rusty Tin Knife.
You receive 1 gold.
“Yes!” he cried out as he plucked the dagger from the goblin’s body. Now he had a weapon! He might actually have a fighting chance after his mana ran out. Maybe. He still had no armor to speak of since the jerkin by itself offered no defense bonus. Still, it was progress and he felt much better now that he had a weapon.
Bending down, he scratched Luna on the head and on the neck, eliciting some soft purrs. “We did good!” he told the cat.
Luna gave him a smug look. “Yes.”
Motioning her to follow, he headed back into town. He had one more quest to do and it was going to be the hardest. He was still thinking about strategies when they found Ralf’s house on the east side of the village.
By the lack of lights, he guessed Ralf must be sleeping. He walked around the house and found a cellar door with a large padlock. Retrieving the cellar key from his inventory, Jace unlocked the padlock and set it on the ground.
“We’re supposed to kill rats,” Jace told Luna who immediately perked up.
“Rats?” she asked excitedly and Jace chuckled.
“These rats might be pretty big,” he told her.
“Big rats?” she asked with even more excitement.
Laughing, he pulled out his knife and started down the steps with Luna hurrying after him. No sooner had he made it to the bottom when there was a squeal from somewhere in the cellar. Luna darted towards the sound and disappeared behind some old crates.
“Big rat! Big rat!” she meowed in excitement. He heard a scuffling and then a Luna hiss and finally a howl from Luna. She came darting back, this time her voice was panicked. “Big rat! Big rat!”
Chasing Luna was a rat that was as large as her! Jace side stepped as Luna rushed past him, followed closely by the rat. As soon as it was past, he stabbed it with his knife.
You critically hit Cellar Rat for 5 damage.
Cellar Rat dies.
You gain 5 experience.
As soon as the rat died, Luna stopped, spun and pounced on it, wrestling around with the rat on the floor. Jace was laughing at her when he saw another rat racing towards her. Luna saw it too and jumped straight up in the air, came down and scurried out the cellar.
The cellar rat changed course and charged Jace instead. As it got near, he stabbed out and killed it.
Jace glanced at the system message and saw he’d killed the rat with only 3 points of damage. Apparently, this was going to be easier than he thought. And that’s when 4 rats charged him from all directions.
Lashing out with his knife, he managed to skewer one of them but the other three slipped inside his guard, attacking his bare legs and feet.
Cellar Rat bites YOU for 1 damage.
Cellar Rat bites YOU for 1 damage.
Cellar Rat bites YOU for 1 damage.
Crying out at the nasty bites, Jace stabbed down at the rat in front, killing it. The other two bit him again, taking away another 2 health, leaving him with only 3 health left.
He pivoted and drove his knife in the rat on his left, allowing the one on his right to bite him again, dropping him down to only 2 health.
Jace spun again, burying his knife into the side of the last rat, dropping it. He looked at his health and stamina bars. Both were drained but he’d survived and finished the quest. Or had he? He waited for a quest update but nothing came. That’s when he saw another rat darting towards him. This one was twice as large as the others and its beady little eyes glistened with malice.
Jace turned and ran up the cellar steps. He was half way up when the giant rat caught up with him and ripped into his leg.
Cellar Rat Den Mother bites YOU for 3 damage.
You have died.
After choosing to respawn, Jace once again appeared in the graveyard in only his loincloth. Pushing down his frustration, he sat down and summoned Luna back. When she appeared, she sat on her haunches, wrapped her tail around her and looked at him completely deadpan. “Summoner die again?”
Rolling his eyes at her, jogged back to Ralf’s house. When he arrived, Jace crept over to the cellar door and looked down. He saw his corpse but no sign of the den mother. Entering stealth, he crept to his body and looted it. He quickly equipped the jerkin and pulled out the knife.
Then he crept further down the steps until he saw the den mother on the other side of the cellar. He earned another rank of Stealth as he crept to the bottom of the stairs. He was about to try stealth casting the Flame Bolt spell when the den mother charged him.
He cast the spell anyway, knowing it wouldn’t be a critical hit. The flaming missile flew the distance to the rat and smashed into its face.
You burn Cellar Rat Den Mother with Flame Bolt for 2 fire damage.
Despite the burns, the den mother kept coming and Jace got in one thrust with the dagger doing 3 damage. Then the thing was on him and was latching its teeth onto his leg.
Cellar Rat Den Mother bites YOU for 2 damage.
He desperately stabbed down again, doing more damage but the huge rat didn’t die. It released it’s hold and hit him again.
Cellar Rat Den Mother bites YOU for 3 damage.
With only 2 health remaining, he knew he couldn’t take another hit. He slammed his knife down into it’s back, hoping his strike would kill it. It didn’t. The den mother released it’s hold and reared back to take the final bite that would kill him.
That’s when an orange blur of fur streaked out of the shadows and landed atop the rat’s face, biting, clawing and hissing.
Luna critically claws Cellar Rat Den Mother for 2 damage.
Cellar Rat Den Mother has died.
You gain 20 experience.
Stunned, Jace just looked at Luna, sitting atop the giant rat’s corpse. She back on her haunches, with her tail wrapped around her. She looked straight at him. “Mine!” Then the little cat began to eat the dead den mother.
Chapter 15
Jace had looted all of the smaller rat bodies while Luna feasted on the den mother. He received some rat pelts but no worthwhile loot. When Luna had eaten her fill, which truth be told wasn’t much, he looted the den mother and was happy to get a giant rat fang.
Giant Rat Fang
Type: Dagger
Damage: 4 + 1 (Sharp)
Wt: 1 lb
Description: Pulled from the mouth of a giant rat, this fang is large enough to be used as a weapon.
He now had two daggers and the Giant Rat Fang was definitely the better of the two. Like his Mordred character, Jace’s Rogue class allowed him to wield two weapons at once. This would make fighting any more goblins much easier.
Jace turned in the quest and the cellar key to Ralf, who hadn’t been very happy about being awakened in the middle of the night but who was very happy that his rat problem had been solved. He gave Jace the coins he’d promised and then promptly shut the door in his face.
He’d searched the town after that looking for anyone who might be able to give him additional quests but found no one. Unlike the larger cities he was used to, these NPCs in these small villages kept more traditional routines. Since Jace no longer needed to sleep, it appeared he would have plenty of wasted time.
To make matters worse, the evenings were very cold. Without pants or boots, the cold would cause him to shiver if he stopped moving for long.
Trying to keep busy and warm, Jace roamed just outside the village, looking for more goblins but hadn’t found any. Next, he explored down the roads for several miles in each direction but hadn’t found anything noteworthy. He’d found a few scattered farms in each direction, but they were dark as well.
He had been considering exploring further when he noticed the eastern horizon finally beginning to brighten. Dawn was coming. Hopefully that meant the villagers would be waking up and he’d be able to get more quests. Then he remembered Charlena. She’d told him she’d be logging in some time this morning so he really should wait for her. If they hoped to leave this villa
ge, they’d both need to get as much experience as possible. That meant they should do the quests together.
Five hours later, Charlena finally logged in. Jace was glad to see her. Not only was he anxious to get started with some quests, she was also the only person he knew in the game right now. And if he had to admit it, he was a bit lonely for human company. He’d always been an introvert, but he’d at least had face to face contact with people at school or people at work. While NPCs were programmed to act like people, they weren’t people. They were just constructs.
Charlena smiled and waved when she saw him but then stopped and tilted her head, her brow furrowed. “Am I going crazy or were you a rogue yesterday?”
Jace smiled. “I switched classes to Mage since I had no weapons or armor.”
“Isn’t switching classes bad?” she asked. “I thought I read it would give you a penalty or something.”
“You’re usually right,” Jace explained. “There is a penalty that grows with each class. Except with humans. Humans can multiclass without the experience penalty.”
Her face brightened. “Ooo, that sounds neat! So, you can have all the abilities of all the classes! Is that why you chose human?”
“Sort of. You only gain mana and health from your highest class so generally you’d end up more versatile than someone who sticks with one class, but also less powerful in the long run.” He didn’t mention that he hadn’t actually chosen to be human, it was thrust on him.
“Oh. So, why are you doing it?”
Jace debated telling her the full story but still held off. He really didn’t know her, and he wasn’t sure how’d she react. Right now, he needed her. Instead, he gave her as much truth as he could. “I hadn’t planned on changing classes, but if we’re going to make a run at getting out of this village, I thought we might need some versatility.”
She seemed to consider that for a moment, her expression seeming to morph from appreciation to suspicion and maybe even wary. “So you did it to help me?”
Jace flashed her a grin. “Well, I assume I will be going with you!”
She smiled back and he noticed what a truly nice smile she had. Idly, he wondered if it was as nice in the real world. Then he remembered, he was dead. He’d never see the real world again.
“You okay?” she asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. “You looked really down just now.”
“I’m fine,” he told her. “I just remembered something sad. Oh, and I forgot, I have a familiar now.” As if on queue, Luna stepped between his legs and sat down in front of him, looking up at Charlena. “Charlena, this is Luna. Luna, this is Charlena.”
“Yes,” meowed Luna impassively.
“She’s so fluffy!” Charlena cried out and bent down to rub and pet her. “I want one!”
Jace laughed as Charlena lavished affection on his familiar. Luna tried to ignore it at first, but eventually gave in and began to purr happily.
“You like it?” he asked the cat.
“Yes,” she replied contentedly.
Charlena looked up at him. “Are you… meowing… to the cat?”
Jace looked at her, confused. “No, I just asked if she liked the petting and she said yes.”
“No, you didn’t,” she told him, shaking her head. “You… meowed like a cat… then she meowed back.”
“What?!” Jace muttered. “I’m not speaking English?” Suddenly he remembered the Monsterspeak skill. He remembered he had understood the goblins. Did that mean he could understand ANY monster? And speak their language?! He could speak languages he didn’t even know?!
“Sorry Jace,” she told him empathically. “You were meowing like a cat.”
He snapped his attention back to her, unsure what to say. “She’s my first familiar. That must be the way mages talk with them.”
“So, wait,” Charlena said. “You mean, you can talk to her and she can understand and talk back?”
Jace nodded.
Once again, she flashed him her dazzling smile. “That is so cool! Now I really want one!”
“What do you say we do some quests and see how much experience we can get so we can get out of this one-horse town,” Jace suggested, eager to change the topic. He had to think about this Monsterspeak skill and how it worked. There was something unsettling about speaking and understanding languages he didn’t know - without knowing he was doing it.
“That sounds good! I really didn’t get to do any quests. Are they fun?” she said with a gleam in her eye.
Jace laughed, remembering how long it had taken him to carry all the stones for Odo. “Sometimes. But they do give experience and money - usually.”
“Great. Let’s go!”
The two of them grouped and spent the next several hours running around town, doing various quests. Many of them were the simpler delivery or collect quests. In one quest, they’d had to clear spiders out of a woman’s attic, which was very reminiscent of the rat quest, right down to the extra large spider at the end. Unfortunately, it hadn’t dropped a dagger like the rat. Instead, it had dropped spider silk, which they could sell at the local store for an extra gold.
When lunch finally rolled around and Charlena logged off to eat, they’d each earned 250 experience and 13 gold. Combined with the 7 gold he’d earned previously from the quests and goblins, he had enough to buy a pair of leather boots and leggings. Putting on the clothes, he felt like a real character now. Finally, he wasn’t running barefoot in a loincloth!
When Charlena logged in after her lunch break, she gave him an approving nod. “Much better! At least now you won’t be so distracting.”
Jace raced an eyebrow. “Distracting?”
Charlena’s face went red. “I meant, because you looked so ridiculous.”
Jace chuckled. “I did, didn’t I.”
Charlena giggled. “It was actually really hard not to laugh at you.”
“I’m offended,” Jace said with mock outrage.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I’m sure you are. But at least you can be offended with pants now.”
The both chuckled and then went back to doing quests around town. It surprised Jace at how well they seemed to get along. They chatted back and forth while they were running errands or collecting flowers or any number of other newbie quests.
Jace discovered Charlena was 22 years old and in school to become an internet gaming artist. She’d always loved art and dreamed of creating virtual reality worlds.
Since WorldCog and VEIL were the cutting edge, she had begun playing to experience the top virtual world. He’d had to stop himself multiple times from telling her he was - or had been - a programmer at WorldCog. Instead, he’d told her he was a contract programmer.
Charlena had mentioned that she lived in Wilmington, Delaware and he’d let slip that he lived in Philadelphia. Well, he used to.
“That’s where WorldCog HQ is. You should go work at WorldCog!” she told him and punched him playfully. “Then you could put in a kind word for me!”
Jace’s face must have betrayed him because she cocked her head. “I’m just kidding. You barely know me, you don’t have to recommend me.”
Jace forced a smile. “It’s not that. I’m just not a fan of… big corporations right now.”
She nodded in understanding. “I know what you mean. One of my professors says the same thing. Basically, how corporations hold the real power now. Governments just exist to help them in their inevitable takeover of our rights.”
Jace thought of his own situation. “You don’t think corporations will sacrifice people to make a buck.”
She looked thoughtful but finally shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Jace let the subject drop as they turned in another quest. They’d done 10 more quests and now the NPCs around town were no longer offering work.
“Thanks again,” said Hazel as she handed them each a gold. “I appreciate you finding those mushrooms for my soup.” The woman looked between Jace and Charlena. “You know, Gerta was just tel
ling me today that she’s afraid to go look for mushrooms because they’ve been having issues with wolves near their farm. Maybe you two can help them.”
Jace smiled despite himself. It sounded as if Hazel had just pointed him to another quest. Judging by Charlena’s smile, she realized it too.
“I’m sure we can help,” she told Hazel. “Where do they live?”
Hazel pointed south. “Gerta and Thom have the second farm down the south road.”
They assured Hazel they would talk with Gerta and then bid her farewell.
“So, we get to kill some wolves now?” Charlena asked enthusiastically.
“It sounds that way,” Jace replied.
Looking up at them with a concerned expression, Luna meowed “Wolfers?”
Chapter 16
They found Thom and Gerta working out in the field when they arrived at their farm. The couple looked at them with suspicion as they approached.
“Can I help you strangers?” asked the man they assumed was Thom.
Jace gave them a smile and held his empty hands up in a sign of peace. “Hazel in town said you might be having some trouble with wolves. We came to see if we could help.”
“Wolfers,” Luna meowed softly.
The tension drained from their faces and Thom actually smiled and put his hand out. “My name is Thom,” he said, shaking Jace’s hand. “And this is my wife Greta. We’d welcome your help.”
Thom related their recent troubles. For the last week, they’d been getting night-time attacks by what they thought were wolves. Every other night wolves would kill one of their livestock and eat part of it but leave the rest of their herds untouched.
“Just one animal, every other day?” Jace asked, perplexed. “And they only eat part of it?”
VEIL Online - Book 1 Page 10
