Chapter 7: All Eyes on Me

Chase’s arrow struck the spider in one of its biggest eyes. It shrieked and its mandibles opened wide. The sound it made caused all around to cover their ears and black blood splattered on the ground. Alex leaped away just in time as the spider fell to the ground writhing in agony. It tried to claw the arrow out of its eye with its front legs.

“Amelie!” Called Chase. “Strike its leg around the joint!”

Sword raised above her like a lumberjack about to hew a log in twain, Amelie brought the sword down with all the power she had. In two strikes she had the first leg of the spider flopping on the ground. As Chase had hoped she had gone for the second joint of the leg so all that remained was a bloody stump.

The spider shrieked again. Forgetting the arrow still deep within its eye it turned its attention to the young girl. Amelie raised the sword up high ready to strike.

“HISSSSSSSS,” the spider spit though its mouth. A glob of green spit the size of a wet snowball hit her in the hands. She dropped the sword and screamed.

Chase knocked another arrow and drew it to his ear. That’s new, he thought. Either this spider learned some new moves or we just unlocked a phase of its move set I’ve never seen before.

“Amelie, move!” Said Chase. “I know it hurts but you gotta get away so I can get a shot. ALEX WHAT ARE YOU DOING—“

Alexander had retrieved his club the spider has tossed away and was charging like a barbarian berserker right at the enemy, club held high.

“DIEEEEEEEEE,” yelled Alexander. He smashed his club into the spiders head, crushing several eyes. Before the spider could even turn around to face him Alexander had brought the club down with great fury another half a dozen times. He smashed and crushed and hit the spider again and again and with each blow the squish of the spiders brain matter silenced its fading screams as Alexander beat all life from its body.

“DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-” With each hit Alexander repeated his war cry. He became red faced and veins popped from his forearms. His powerful shoulders bunched and twisted as he brought his weapon to land against the spider’s head.

Amelie, hands forgotten, now shielded her self from the blood which splattered over her from Alexander’s onslaught. Chase lowered his bow and glanced back at the Guide who had an eyebrow raised and his head cocked at the boy’s display.

“Alexander,” said the Guide, hands raised and trying to sound calming. “You can stop, now. I think the spider is dead, lad.”

“DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE-.”

“Come on, Alexander,” said Chase. “It’s done. That spider isn’t coming after you again.”

“DIE-DIE-DIE-DIE!!”

The Guide sighed. “Alex relax, you can stop. We got other things to do today.”

“DIE…DIE….Die..…Die……”

Alexander’s blows finally began to lose power. His breathing became ragged and he sucked in huge lungfuls of air. He raised the club again.

“Alexander,” said Amelie. She was covered in the spiders black blood from his outburst. “Put down the club.”

The club dropped from his hands and he sat down beside it with a small crash. Chase saw there was a large crack in the club running up its length.

“Well done, lad,” said the Guide. He walked over to Alexander and handed him a skin of water. Alexander took the water skin and drank greedily. “Fear is a great motivator. Don’t like spiders, eh?”

“Fear?” Alexander stopped drinking to look at the Guide. His face was tired yet in his eyes was indignation. “I wasn’t afraid.”

“Oh?”

“I was angry.” He passed the water to Amelie.

“Thank you.” She took the water and used some to wash her self. “That was very impressive, Alexander. I think without you the spider would have gotten me. The spit was very uncomfortable.”

“Pour some of the water on your hands, for now,” The Guide told her. “I have medicine for you back home. Jojo doesn’t usually do that move…you three must have really gotten under his skin.”

“We got under his skin?” said Alexander incredulously. “You were the one taunting it. Wait, what do you mean by ‘Jojo? This thing has a name?”

“Of course.” The guide placed his hand on one of the spiders legs and patted it fondly. “This is Jojo. Me and him spawned here countless years ago. He’s kind of like my pet.”

“Well, he’s dead now,” Alexander responded bluntly.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Mr Guide,” said Amelie.

“He’s not dead,” said the Guide.

Alexander looked at the body of the spider and raised an eyebrow. “Looks pretty dead to me.”

“Yeah, you sure did a number on him. Thanks for breaking my club by the way. Usually Jojo runs away but something must have really been bothering him.”

“Couldn’t have been your insults?”

“Don’t be silly lad I don’t speak spider.” The Guide shrugged. “Okay, perhaps he understands me better than he lets on but the taunting is just part of the tradition. It’s to make the new players think the spider is getting more worked up than he really is.”

“Alright, well he still seems dead,” said Alexander.

“What did I tell you before?” Said the guide. “I am an NPC and so is Jojo. We can’t die.”

“So, what, he is going to rise from the dead?”

“Technically he’s not dead as that would suggest he was once living.” The Guide took the water skin back from Amelie and worked the cork back into the stopper. “Most NPCs respawn a month after being killed. We actually call it getting reset. When they come back they usually have lost their memories of a few weeks before it happened.”

Eyes wide, Alexander got off the ground with some effort and gazed at the spider he thought was dead and gone.

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“You mean this thing is coming back? Is it going to be looking for us?”

The Guide waved his hand dismissively. “Of course not he won’t even remember you most likely. Jojo is a special NPC and will be fully reset by tonight. Can’t be waiting an entire month for him when we got players who need onboarding.”

“Fascinating,” said Amelie. She stood up and examined the spider carefully. “So NPCs can feel pain then?”

“Yes,” said the Guide. “And many other things as well.”

Amelie was silent a moment. When she turned around she look at Chase and smiled.

“Amazing shot, Chase. Maybe you were an archer in your old life?”

For a split second Chase thought she meant as Spade. He had to stop himself from telling her that he was a champion archer. It’s not true anymore, anyways, thought Chase. When he had all his contract marks the arrow would have pierced the spider thorough and nailed it to a tree. He scrambled his brain for a suitable reply that would absolve him of suspicion.

“Oh, well, I….um…” Chase sputtered.

“Got lucky?” Suggested the Guide. He wasn’t smiling but he didn’t seem too upset with Chase for revealing such skill.

“Yes. Very lucky. I was actually aiming for its abdomen.” Chase shrugged. “Maybe if I always aim for something else then I’ll hit the target.”

Alexander and Amelie shared a look with one another.

These two are much brighter than your typical player, thought Chase. They can’t possibly suspect anything, but my lies must sound odd to them.

“Congratulations, anyways,” said the Guide. He clasped his hands together with enthusiasm. “You have all completed the first part of your training with me. There are two tasks to go.”

“When does the next one begin?” Asked Amelie.

“Right now.” The Guide pointed at the forest where the spider had come from. “Jojo was guarding a patch of Powder Snipe mushroom. A very large patch. Two of you need to go collect them. I’ll give you some knives to properly cut the little stinkers off.”

“How many do we need?” Alexander looked ready to leave the spider. Despite his assurance that his attack had been borne of rage it wasn’t easy for anyone to see such a large arachnid and feel nonplussed.

“As many as your bags will allow.” The Guide pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket. “As for the third person I will need them to come with me to where I will show them how to harvest crescent roots. They will need these gloves.”

“I’ll do the crescent roots,” said Chase. He remembered digging for them as a kid and thinking how terrible the job was. Compared to getting the mushrooms it was a deal more tedious. He decided that being nice to Amelie and Alexander after their ordeal with the spider would be a good move and keep their spirits up.

“Very well.” The Guide nodded approvingly. “I’ll just give these two some knives and a small tutorial before we depart.”

The Guide took Chase’s spawnmates into the trees and out of sight. After a few minutes the Guide returned alone. He stood by the spider without looking at Chase. He placed one hand on the arachnid’s abdomen and patted it a couple times.

“He’s a good spider. Wish he had run away like he was supposed to once you shot him. That lad gave him a rare beating.”

“You said something got into him,” said Chase.

The Guide shrugged. “Things don’t ‘get into’ NPCs, Chase. We aren’t humans who seem to be governed one moment by logic and the next at the slightest change of the wind.”

“Then why did he stay?”

“Who knows. And when he respawns he won’t be able to tell me anyways.”

“Right. This world is just so new to me I forget these things.”

The Guide looked at him but his face was expressionless.

“Follow me.”

The trek into the woods was shorter than Chase remembered. Crescent roots came from a small plant with leaves shaped like a waning moon. They were a staple of many potions which Chase remembered the Old Guard’s alchemist, Christie, using countless times.

“Here we are.” They Guide handed Chase the gloves. “Do you know what to do?”

Chase took the gloves and began pulling them on his hands.

“So you know who I am?”

The Guide sat back on a small rock and took out his pipe. He began stuffing it from a tobacco pouch in his other pocket.

“You’re name is Chase, you just spawned. There isn’t much to know.”

“I mean before that.”

“There is nothing before that, you should know that well by now.”

“See?” Said Chase. “You kept hinting that you know I am a respawn. Do you know or not that I got a deal to respawn?”

The Guide glowered at him but didn’t speak for a while. He busied himself by lighting his pipe and taking a few puffs. To all players he was an ageless NPC, not much different from the others in the world of Esem. But Chase had always wondered whether Guide’s had more abilities than they let on. If he was right about his knowledge that Chase was a respawn then he had to have certain privileges.

“Look,” said the Guide at last. “What does it matter? If a player respawns,” he made a face at the word, “it is between them and their advisor. But more importantly that old player is gone. Whoever you were before does not matter to me at all. I would only ask you not give anything away to these two.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been trying not to let too much slip.”

“And you’ve done a bang up job so far,” said the Guide dryly. “Now, if you don’t mind, those crescent roots won’t pick themselves.”

Chase got to work on the roots. They were tricky to gather as their small size meant they were very fragile. One of out every three Chase picked must have snapped at the middle making them useless. After half an hour Chase had about two large handfuls.

“How is this?” Chase held his bag open for the Guide.

Without looking into the bag the Guide said, “I don’t really like the idea of players respawning.”

“Say what?”

“Respawning. I’ve dealt with it a couple times now. It’s a bad practice.”

Chase sighed. “How so?”

“Firstly, it’s unfair to all the other players who might want to do the same thing.”

“So? I had something worthwhile in exchange.”

The Guide half snorted and half laughed. “Worthwhile? A few contract marks and some gems in a vault? You think AION cares about that? AION made it all anyways he can have as much as he wants.”

“Then why allow me to respawn?”

“I dunno,” the Guide shrugged. “I’ve never seen the rhyme or reason in respawning. Seems a bit arbitrary. Anyways, that’s not the only reason I don’t like it.”

“You think I have too much knowledge of the game? Perhaps AION should have wiped my memories?”

“Maybe that would be a solution. But what I see happen with respawns is they are running away from something. Usually something bad they did or some group who wants them dead.”

“Which one do you think I am?”

The Guide looked him up and down, still puffing his pipe.

“I don’t care.”

“Then why even—“

“What I am trying to say is that it almost never works out. The respawned player has some grand ideas about living incognito the rest of their lives and turning over a new leaf. What inevitably ends up happening, however, is they slip back into their old ways, tells someone their old identity, and get rounded up and done in by whoever they were running away from in the first place.”

“That won’t happen to me. I’m pretty good at going undetected when I want to be. Even without my contract marks,” he added absentmindedly touching his left forearm.

“Sure, but what about that bow shot?” The Guide motioned with his pipe back the way they had came. “Those two back there are not fools. Even the big one who seems like a lummox half the time is far brighter than you can imagine. You can pull your tricks in front of an NPC just fine but a pair of independent thinkers can begin to piece the puzzle together. And they aren’t the only ones, Spade.”

“Ah ha! So you do know me.”

The Guide sighed. “A slip of the tongue. Of course I know who you were. Pray to AION that you can keep it together in front of someone who could do you harm. You know I’ve never left this island, but word does come to me of the players who I have seen. Besides you, there were two others from your old guild, the Old Guard, who passed through this forest.”

“Solomon and Karkren. I know, I was here myself.”

“I remember the morning they spawned, only a couple weeks apart from one another. They were killers the moment I saw them. I cannot say for the players they have become, but if you were running from them, and if either one of them finds out you are alive they won’t stop until you’re in the ground.”

“So long as they or an Old Guard associate doesn’t get word of my survival then everything will be fine, look.” Chase put the bag away into his pocket. “I know the risks. So long as I don’t tell anyone who I used to be I can live a normal life.”

“You don’t have to say a word for a smart person to catch on.”

Chase raised his hands in concession. “Fine. You are right. I will try to keep it together better.”

“Very well.” The Guide emptied his pipe over his knee and tucked it away in his robe. “Let’s go see if the other two have finished their task. I’m getting hungry now. Come on, Chase.”

They made it back to the glade together to find Amelie and Alexander resting by a tree. Chase waved at them when they entered and the pair got up and walked over to them.

“What happened to the spider?” Alexander pointed to where the spider had been. The body was gone with only an indentation in the ground to mark its fall. Other than that only the black blood remained. Alexander looked around hesitantly.

“Jojo is being reset so its body is gone. How else is he supposed to respawn if his body is all crushed like a pancake? And don’t worry he’s not coming after you.” The Guide nodded at their bags. “How many mushrooms did you two get?”

“Is this enough?” Amelie opened her bag and the guide looked inside. “Alexander and I came up with a good system of harvesting the Powder Snipe mushrooms. He pulled them from the ground and I cut them individually. It made for a better cut than bending down and hoping it was the correct spot.”

“Well then,” the Guide smiled at her. “Perhaps the next task will go easier if that is the case.”

“What about the roots?” Asked Alexander. He looked at Chase with a curious look.

Chase held up his bag. “All here.”

He doesn’t know what to think of me. That bow shot really was a bad idea then, thought Chase.

“All right you three,” said the Guide. “Let’s go back to the camp. We’re going to eat some lunch before the next task so I hope you are all hungry.”

The Guide turned to go and the trio began to follow him.

“What’s for lunch?” Asked Alexander.

“Spider steak,” called back the Guide.

The young man was quiet a moment, Chase was unsure whether he knew the Guide was joking.

“How do you cook it?” Alexander finally asked.

“With lots of oil and a garnish of cobwebs, lad.”

Chase caught a worried look from Alexander.

“Don’t worry,” Chase said in a low voice try to assuage his fears. “I’m sure its just ones of Jojo’s friends.”

The Guide threw back his head and laughed.