Author’s Note: Here comes third chapter. As before, hope for criticism and if you spot mistakes I will try to correct them as soon as possible. After posting this chapter I will also edit second chapter a bit, to make it look less bulky. Anyways, enjoy!
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When I left capsule, I noticed it was growing wasn’t even dark outside, and I clearly spent whole day in-game. When I looked at the clock it that the time spent inside capsule was only two hours. It was quite incredulous. Whole day playing should be whole day in here right? I mean, it should be around midnight here, at least. What was this game, different dimension???
Anyways, that meant that I had to log in back in about an hour or even less to make it for departure towards the next village where I could get a job. Not much time really, but I didn’t mind, I had nothing to do here, except for some light food and checking info on the net. After making myself some sandwiches I started searching in the web for information on the game. Guess what? I found NONE. There were only posts about arriving of the capsules and anticipation on how the game would look like. That’s it.
Not what I expected, that’s for sure, I mean, some people MUST have logged out by now? And some must have done it even earlier if they were in similar situation as I was at the beginning to complain about game difficulty? But there was nothing. So in one of the forums about capsules, I posted my own experience so far half to gloat, and half to complain.
I still had some time before 45 minutes passed, which was the time I decided on logging back in, so I just waited, while refreshing thread I posted in. And after 10 minutes of waiting there was still nothing. NOTHING. That was just impossible. The topic was viral, last post I saw was posted just 2 minutes before I posted my own. But after my post there was nothing.
I was simply dumbfounded. Crazy ideas about suddenly becoming last man on earth and a few bad horrors came to my mind. But I quickly dismissed the ideas and decided to check it later on, when I logged out again. Now it was the time to continue my adventure!
I woke up in game and sun was already starting to shine through the window where i slept. Also, on the chair, near bed were neatly folded clothes, similar to mine in design but different in size. Yes, it was mayor’s size, so after putting them on I must have looked like child with beard in its big bearded parent’s pajamas.
I rolled the sleeves and trousers up to maintain some dignity and walked out of my room. I immediately smelled eggs, and my stomach started growling. That just proved that whatever I did outside the game, didn’t affect the state of my body in here. I went down and said hi to the mayor and his daughter. They were together, standing in the kitchen connected to the living room, but upon seeing me Lidiam (that was her full name) started hopping around me trying to make me play with her.
“Stop bothering Rob, Lidi, he doesn’t have time now.”
“Time, what do you mean Cordel?”
Aw shit. I was distracted by delicious smell and forgot about departure.
“Damn, am I late? Cordel, where is the meeting point for those travelling to Plenty?”
“You have luck, you still have about 5 hourglasses before they depart. Take these for the road” he gave me bread and couple of sausages “you will pay for them later. For now run straight ahead of my house, towards the forest where you came from, and met Vars. He is responsible for delegating protectors for this journey, so tell him you will be participating. Good luck!”
He shouted at my back and I shouted thanks back to him, as I ran towards group of people I saw at the entrance to the village. There were about 15 men with 2 women standing near cart loaded with wood. What surprised me was that cart was pulled by normal horses. Finally something I recognized in here. One of the men, Vars, was giving instructions to the others. I managed to get in range to hear him finish.
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“…and remember, the thieves around here may be weak, but they are plenty. They didn’t form any band that could threaten us. Not that we know of. But still they can try to ambush you, and I don’t want any more causalities. Understood? Park, Lomar, Ref and Ungr. You are responsible for all these people…”
Than he noticed me.
“…and this dwarf. Keep your wits about you, and return safe.”
“He, hello Vars. I Cordel says hi. And I was supposed to tell you that I want to go to Plenty”
He was looking at me, grimly so I stuttered a little.
“Yes, that I can see Rob the dwarf. Now listen. If there will be ambush on the road, and you don’t help others with defending themselves, you might as well not come back here. And if I ever find you, it will be short encounter. Do you understand?”
Why did he have problem with me? Oh right. When we met I was looking like madman, with blood on my clothes. If I wanted to live here I probably should improve our relations somehow.
“Don’t worry, as I said before, that was goblins blood, and I am not a bandit.”
“Hmph, we shall see.”
With that he rudely turned away and went into his house. One of the other men in similar to Varse's leather armor and spear came up to me.
“My name is Lomar and I am leader of this trip. You will be walking behind the cart with others, and don’t do anything suspicious.”
Why was everyone except mayor so wary of me? I was smaller than them by whole feet for god’s sake.
“How can I prove to you people that I mean you no harm?”
“Trust is not easily earned, you should know that best as a dwarf.”
After a bit of time we went ahead and left the village. I noticed all people, even women, had some kind of weapon on them, as well as small moneybag strapped to belts. Weapons were mostly short swords, couple of them had staffs, wooden maces and wooden shields. I was given a large stick from the pile of wood. Great. Still no real weapon. But I was going to be a blacksmith, so I had high hopes for the future. Few people were talking during our journey, but there was one I managed to talk to without stress. He was named Dorrick, and was very talkative. Laughing and talking almost non-stop, I hardly had any opportunity to ask him questions.
“…yes, my mother thought I would be tough like a dwarf so she named me after your king. Hahahaha, imagine me, woodcutter from northern frontier, with name of a King!!! Hahahaha”
“As I was saying earlier I am only half dwarf, so he is not really my king.”
“Ay, details my small friend, details. Have you been around these parts before? No? Well you will like Plenty, it’s almost like one of your dwarven towns, except on surface. Hahahahaha, so nothing like them at all!”
I was growing tired of his constant talking, but I managed to squeeze some of crucial information I needed. When I asked him whether I could somehow check how strong I was (I really wanted to know my stats and level), he said that It was possible in temple, if I paid for it. Only 50 silver for check-up. What the hell. Also, when I told him I forgot to swear myself in the temple, he grew startled and said I had to do it in Plenty as a first thing upon arrival. But I was at ease, I mean, until level 10 I had divine protection right? And it wouldn’t be easy for me to gain those levels, without hunting anything first. Or so I thought.
After passing small hill, protector in front of the cart shouted something no one wanted to hear during this journey.
“BANDITS!!!”