Morgan awoke in the early hours of the morning, disturbed by a small black cat bumping him in the face with its nose repeatedly. He looked out the window seeing the barest hint of light in the sky. He stroked the cat, who, having woken him, was now purring contentedly. Soon after, the rest of the cats awoke and started gambolling on him and about the room, and Morgan realised that the night's sleep was done.
He took some time to feed the small beasts and pondered what to do with them today. His day was likely to be spent in the forest, and he felt a little bad leaving them here all alone. After recovering from the fight with the goblins, he grudgingly realised there was also the fair chance of him dying, and he wasn’t sure what would happen if they were out. Opening the Bag of Cats, the large kittens flew through the air, shrinking to disappear into the opening. Morgan eyed the now quiet room, and briefly considered going back to bed, where it was warm and cosy. Remembering the seneschals' cold face and colder words, he turned to the door and headed downstairs.
Entering the bar area, he was surprised to see Harl already awake and sitting at a table by the fire. After collecting a steaming hot bowl of porridge from Vally, he approached the player turned lumberjack. Harl was just as surprised to see him and flashed a friendly smile as he gestured for Morgan to sit. “Good to see you again. You’re up early?”
Morgan took the offered seat, “Morning Harl. I woke up and realised I probably have a lot to do. I’m not even sure the enormity of my task yet, but it sounds daunting.”
Harl nodded, replying, “Man after my own heart, got to get up and at them. How was the meeting with the seneschal? You know what you need to do?”
Morgan set into his porridge, answering glumly, “I need to get two hundred Silkblossom seedpods and a hundred vials of Valoplant sap. And I’m not sure what either of those are or what they look like.”
Harl grinned cheerfully at Morgan, "Not to worry mate, I know Valoplant at least. Why don’t you come out with me today, and I’ll show you around?”
“I’d love to,” Morgan replied, earnestly, “when do we start?”
Harl gestured vaguely to the bowl of hot porridge that was rapidly being emptied, and said with a grin, “After breakfast, I guess.”
Harl led them to the warehouse area of town, disappearing into a building and reappearing dragging a long two wheeled cart. The two exited the inn soon after, cart in tow, and headed into the early morning. Morgan recognised the guard at the entrance to the town from the battle the day before, and the two shared a respectful nod. As they headed down the road, they passed the scuffed dirt and bloodstains that remained from the fight.
Morgan idly wondered what happened to the bodies as Harl commented on the scene “Looks like a hell of a scrap happened here; I could hear it from the woods. Bloody goblin raiders. They don’t make my life any easier.” With this, Harl spat at a vivid green bloodstain.
Morgan relayed what had happened, explaining the baron’s frantic entrance and his own subsequent knock out by flying goblin. He continued to describe the seneschal's reaction to his lateness, and the penalty he had been slapped with. “He didn’t even let me explain. I should have left the bastard baron to rot, he’s the one that got me knocked out in the first place.
Harl scowled as he heard this, “Aye, no good need goes unpunished. That’s what I’ve come to expect from these people. They do nothing but take. I don’t understand it though, why go to all the trouble to bring us into this place and then have us work menial jobs like slaves? There’ something we’re missing here.”
Morgan nodded emphatically as this, “I know what you mean. Along with the hiding of the game’s contents from the outside world. You’d think they’d be showing off every little facet of this marvel.”
The two continued to talk as they left the road and entered under the gloomy cover of the trees. Thin beams of sunlight pierced the canopy, illuminating small patches of the leafy ground. It got darker and cooler as Harl confidently led them deeper into the forest, the vegetation growing scarcer as the trees became denser, and after a few minutes they stopped at the edge of a small stream.
Harl turned to Morgan, gesturing to the water, “I’ve found some Valoplants up this stream previously, should be a couple of minutes from here, I’ll take you there. The place I’ve been working isn’t too far from here anyhow. Here,” A friend request popped up in Morgan’s vision, followed closely by a party invitation. Morgan accepted both, and Harl continued, “It’s not too bad in this side of the woods, the goblins are infrequent enough. There are some nasty critters about, boars, wolves, large insects, though the worst I’ve faced here was a pack of large squirrels. Hey, don't laugh, just you wait until it’s your turn. Seven of the bastards almost killed me, they’re so hard to hit. If I didn’t think to use my shield as a weapon, I wouldn’t have made it; but it turns out it’s much easier to hit them with the broadside of a shield than the point of an axe.” Morgan recalled the image of Angie slapping at wasps, her sword abandoned, and nodded in agreement. Harl pointed upstream, “Come on, lets pick up the pace and go find some plants”
The pair turned in the indicated direction and started jogging, the cart bouncing along behind Harl. A minute later, they stopped as Harl pointed at a small clump of thick reed-like plants on the bank of the stream. The stems came up to his knees, and had a wide base, perhaps a centimetre wide, shrinking evenly to a point at the tip. Morgan identified it,
[Identify – Unknown]
[Harvestable resource : Harvesting]
Frowning at this, he took out his sickle and cut the plant at the base, for it to shrivel and wither in his hand. He tried identify on the next one, to receive the same result. He didn’t want to maul the plants too much, but seeing no other option, he started cutting them at various points in the stem. Seven withering plants and a level in harvesting later, one didn’t crumble in his hand after it was parted from its root. As Harl watched on in amusement, Morgan pumped the air in victory as he identified the stem,
[Identify – Valoplant Stem]
[Harvestable resource : Harvesting]
He slotted in into his inventory, turning to Harl, “Thats it! Now I just need ninety-nine more! Honestly this may not be so bad. Let’s hope these Silkblossoms are just as easy.”
Harl laughed, replying, “Early days yet, mate. Finish that lot up and I’ll show you where I’ll be working today. Then we can get on with it.”
Morgan set to the few that remained, adding another stem to his inventory. He realised he should probably try harvesting other plants to level his skill, if he could find any, so he didn’t burn through all the Valoplants in the area with such a low yield. Resolving to keep an eye out for anything that looked likely, he followed Harl upstream for a minute, where a crude plank bridge had been laid out across the stream. He noted another clump of the Valoplants near the bridge as they pulled the cart across but ignored them and continued to follow Harl. After another minute of walking into the deepening wood, they came to a small clearing littered with stumps. They set the cart down, and Harl gestured about, “Welcome to the old forest. The trees are older and bigger here, which is why I come out all this way. My task is to gather planks, and the sawmill charges per log so it’s more efficient for me to fell these big ones. Bastard to get back to the town with them though. Glad I got me this cart, makes life a lot easier. I’ll be around here, if you don't stray too far, we can help each other in case of trouble. Just send a message, OK?”
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Morgan nodded his agreement, and watched as Harl lined up with the trunk of a tall tree and withdrew his axe. To the sound of axe striking wood, he headed back to the river. He left the clump of Valoplants there, and instead decided to explore the river downstream, closer to the town. Any harvestable looking plant he took a shot at, ending up mostly with handfuls of useless greenery. He did, however, have a couple of plants desiccate in his hands. He made a note of them, one a small mottled brown fern that the system labelled Versfern, and another a small flower that looked like a dandelion that was labelled Sunblossom. The small flower seemed fairly common along the riverbank, and he spotted a few clumps of the ferns amongst the base of the trees.
A couple of hours of searching, trudging and scything later, he had a couple of Sunblossom heads, and a small handful of Versfern in his inventory, to compliment his new harvesting level. He’d made it to the edge of the forest in that time, and he decided to head back up the stream and check in on Harl. He walked through the forest, keeping sight of the stream while collecting the odd fern on the way. He tried a few other likely looking plants he came across, and while they didn’t give him anything useful, he did find a small clump of five mushrooms that matched the description of the grocer's bounty. He pried them all up with his sickle, surprised that none of them were lost. By the time he made it back, he had the mushrooms and a stack of twelve Versfern, and he hoped it would go some way towards paying his expenses.
Harl was on the verge of felling one of the great trees as Morgan returned, and he shouted a warning, “Watch out mate, this one’s going to come down any moment. It should fall away from us, but just take care.” With a couple more powerful swings, the giant trunk groaned and creaked, slowly tilting away from them. A moment later, it picked up speed and crashed to the ground in a shower of branches and leaves. Harl nodded appreciatively at the fallen tree for a moment, before heading over to start trimming the branches off.
Morgan explored the area around Harl’s clearing, gaining a few more ferns and a couple of the mushrooms as Harl grunted and heaved, chopping large branches from the felled trunk. Morgan froze, a feeling of ice running down his spine as he heard a rustling deeper in the forest, turning to face the direction of the noise and peering deep into the wood. A few long moments passed before he heard it again over the sound of Harl’s labour. He started to back up towards Harl, sending him a message as he moved,
[Morgan – I can hear something moving in the forest to the northeast. Coming back to you now.]
[Harl – OK, we’ll see what it is; with the two of us I’m not too worried. It’s probably a forest beetle. Sorry, I should have warned you; they’re attracted to the noise.]
The noise of chopping ceased as Morgan entered the clearing, and he pointed out the direction of the disturbance to Harl. Morgan drew his sword and Harl offered him the shield, which he took. With sword, shield and axe both men stood ready, peering into the gloom. A few long moments passed, before the rustling was heard again, closer. The two men gazed in the direction of the sound, to see two large forest beetles crash out of a bush and start charging towards them. The beetles were nearly identical to the one that Morgan had fought in the woods near Welcombe, apart from that these two brutes were nearly a quarter as big again.
[Identify - Forest Beetle - Level 5]
[Race - Monster/Insectoid]
[HP - 310/310]
[SP - 413/460]
At a command from Harl, the two players moved apart, and the beetles split to charge each player. Morgan readied his sword, holding it ready to plunge into the beetle’s unprotected head. Harl rushed in to meet the monster that assailed him, delivering a mighty two-handed blow to the creature; narrowly missing its head, burying the axe blade in the chitin behind. As Morgan faced his opponent’s charge down, the beetle did something he wasn’t expecting. The giant armoured insect leapt into a roll, tucking its vulnerable head in to become a crushing wheel of chitin, barrelling at him with speed.
Morgan dived to the side, executing a neat roll as the monster crashed by within inches of him. He turned to see the monster uncurl and skid to a halt, kicking up a cloud of leaves and dirt from the forest floor. Charging towards the turning monster, he raised his sword and let out a savage growl as he bought it down to slash the creature's head. The sword struck true, slicing a nasty gash across it’s insectile features and reducing its health points by three quarters. The insect swung its mandibles clumsily, and Morgan stepped back and to the side, blocking one scythe-like limb on his shield as the other swung harmlessly past him. One more well-placed stab of the sword and the monster stilled, and it crumpled to the ground as he withdrew his blade.
Looking over at Harl, he saw the man had also just defeated his foe, although he was sporting a nasty looking cut on his leg. Harl raised his axe to Morgan in acknowledgement of the victory, looting his beetle and taking a seat on a stump. Morgan followed the man’s lead, picking up 5 of the chitin plates from the prone monster, before moving to sit on a stump nearby. Harl examined his leg quickly, before he turned to Morgan, “I can’t believe I missed that first hit. Guess I deserved this, “the man gestured to his wound, “though it’s not as bad as it looks, it won’t slow me down. Glad you were here for this, two at once is a pain when I’m by myself. You handled your beetle well.”
Morgan laughed, “Not my first beetle rodeo. Though I’ve not seen one roll like that, I was not expecting the beetle wheel. Glad I made it out of the way. How often do they come?”
Harl replied, “Once a day, give or take. Usually in the morning. Some other nasties creeping about too. You’ve got to be very careful if you head east. I hear there’s a goblin camp somewhere over there, and the amount of them that crawl out from that direction seem to support that theory. You should be safe enough to the west and towards the town.”
Nodding Morgan replied, “I’ll stay to the west for now then. Any idea of what I’d find north?”
“The forest ends after six or seven miles,” Harl responded “and it’s basically desert after that, I haven’t gone much further. The creatures north seem to be a bit bigger and tougher too, so I’d give it a pass until you’ve more experience. Time for some lunch I think.” The man withdrew a sandwich from his inventory as he spoke. Morgan joined him with a kebab from his own inventory and the two set to lunch.
As they ate, Morgan explained why he was in the game, and a little about how unsettled he was feeling with the contract and the Eleos Guild.
“So, they’ve got you good, eh?,” Replied Harl, “Me too my friend. Since we’re being candid, I’m here because of a large debt. Nothing sordid, I was stupid enough to try and start a small business; artisanal wood and metalwork. I started out pretty strong, but once the local megacorp got wind of what I was doing, they pressured my clients to put me out of business. It was like someone had flipped a switch; all my work dried up just like that, and then my designs started appearing in the super shops. I tried to take it to the courts, but they couldn’t find enough evidence.“ Harl spat on the ground at his feet in disgust. “Of course, even justice, or the lack of it, costs money. Between the business start-up fees and the sham court fees, I was well under. And then the offer came, and here I am.”
Morgan looked on at the man’s downcast expression, and tried to console him, “I’m sorry Harl, that’s a terrible situation to be thrust into.”
Harl suddenly grinned, “Mate, don’t you worry, they called me foolish to try and I was. Anyway, I actually really like it here. Sure, I’ve got to work hard to make ends meet, as such, but it’s honest labour. Turns out that hitting trees with a large axe is a balm to my troubled soul. If I start to feel frustrated about the past, I can take it out on the trees and the beetles. And hell, I love this outdoors. I’ve never been in a real forest, though there are few enough left; I spent my whole life between the city and the suburb. So, I don’t mind.” The player gestured at the forest around them, “Look at that greenery. Simulated or not it’s the most life I’ve ever seen in a place, and it’s beautiful. I’ve been here for a couple of months so far, and unless things get terrible it looks like it’s going to be OK.”
Smiling at Harl, Morgan replied, “That it is. Beautiful, I mean. Also, frightening. Sure, I got into a fistfight once or twice as a kid, but that hardly prepares you for a pack of charging monsters. Though, I guess that fear is tempered when you realise that if you die, you’ll come back to life.”
Harl raised his eyebrow at Morgan, asking, “I haven’t had to find out, touch wood.” The woodcutter bent to touch a stump, “Have you had the pleasure?”
Morgan nodded as he told Harl of his death at the hands of the wasp queen, his gear remaining where he’d fallen, and the day long respawn timer. The two finished their lunch and mutually decided to get back to work. Harl set himself up against another of the massive trees, and Morgan heard the ringing of the axe grow quieter as he headed back further into the forest.