Harl, Ralph and Chris headed back to town, managing the large log between them. They carried the majority of the loot, a mixture of wooden weapons, herbs and chitin with them to sell. Morgan had claimed the wooden shield, and Lana took a pair of spears, with the reasoning that they’d make great javelins.
The remaining four headed deeper into the woods, Dillan running ahead marking plants for Morgan. Lana and Lauren stayed with Morgan, following along, delighted with the cats’ company. Harriet had taken up a position on the human woman’s shoulder, and Ivycat had draped herself across the elf’s head, to her unending amusement.
Tom walked alongside Morgan, serious and watchful as the other three cats gambolled about under everyone's feet. The three chatted away while Morgan went from plant to plant, as Morgan explained their names and skills to his distracted audience.
They stayed out for the whole afternoon, only pausing in their harvesting to quickly defeat two hapless goblins that Dillan spotted in their path. As the sun started to set, Lana and Lauren headed back to town to get cleaned up and have dinner, leaving Morgan and Dillan to carry on. Morgan had set a target of gathering 250 Valoplant before they returned, and it was late into the evening by the time they managed to reach it.
Morgan asked the guard at the gate to pass on his apologies for missing todays training. The pair paused for a minute to recount the day's events to the character, who seemed almost pathetically grateful to have something other than staring at the distant forest to occupy him. With a wave, they left the guard and headed into town.
They entered the inn to find Lana and Lauren teasing a tongue-tied dwarf. Ralph greeted the incomers with the enthusiasm of a drowning man grabbing at a life raft, “Hey Dillan, hey cat man!” He grinned at the pair as they took seats at the end of the table. “Chris had to log out, but he told me he’ll be back tomorrow around midday. We sold all the loot we found, came out better than I expected for a bunch of beetle parts and sticks.”
Morgan replied with a smile, “Hey guys. Where’s Harl?”
Lana responded, “He went to go chop a few more trees. Serious guy, that one. He said he’d join us when he could.”
With a shrug, Morgan said, “I can’t say much – this is a job for some of us, with a lot at stake.”
Lauren looked at Morgan quizzically, “What do you mean by that? I have noticed there’s some people around who don’t seem to be here for a good time.”
Morgan’s expression soured a little before brightening with his response, “Well, take myself for instance; if you’ll excuse the melodrama, I’m dying in the real world. It’s the sickness, you know. A few weeks ago, I could barely move. Then Eleos offered me the opportunity to work for them in game in exchange for putting me up in a capsule. For me, I get a chance to live a bit longer, hopefully even until they can figure a cure for this sickness. For them... That’s where my understanding breaks down. Dillan has a solid theory about it though.”
Dillan nodded, taking the cue to explain his thoughts, as he'd explained them to Morgan when they’d gone to the forest the day before.
Lana and Lauren’s expressions had sobered during Morgan’s explanation, before turning contemplative after hearing Dillan out.
Lana prodded Lauren, “Lor, it’s the white market, it’s got to be.”
Dillan nodded again, before registering Morgan’s upraised eyebrow. “The white market, as it’s been dubbed, is a place to go to sell and buy for real life credits. It’s not built into the game system; I believe that this was never meant to happen. I hear you can talk to an Eleos representative at one of the major cities to set up a trade.”
Lana spoke up, “You’re right; my boyfriend set me up with one to get my bow and a bunch of potions. Cost a heap of credits, but he was paying.” She shrugged, “It’s a decent bow with a couple of low-level enchantments. Met a guy at an inn in Dilanar and he just handed it over once he worked out who I was. I had a password for him and everything, very cloak and dagger. I’ve never really thought about where the stuff actually comes from, you know?”
Ralph frowned deeply. “Guys, this seems like some pretty serious stuff, right?”
Morgan shrugged at this, “From my perspective it’s not so bad; I haven’t felt this alive in years, and it gives me a chance to live more than a couple of years longer – that’s got to be worth a bunch of virtual herbs, right? Sure, there’s some pressure, but it’s a good deal. It does make you wonder what else this Eleos corporation is up to, though.”
Dillan looked serious as he replied, “I think it’s a lot worse than it seems on the surface, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. What’s the deal with, no offence Morgan, exploiting vulnerable people in a virtual world? OK, so there’s obviously money being made, but it can’t outstrip the costs of the technology in use here.”
At this point, Dillan was disrupted by the arrival of a tired looking Harl, a big grin plastered on his face. He strolled up to the group, “Thanks guys, I’m almost there, I can taste it. With that ancient elm out the way it’s plain sailing. Drinks are on me. What you having?”
The table relaxed, and the conspiratorial air was replaced by a celebratory one, as the group recounted their battle with the pixies and planned for the next day’s adventure into the spider caves.
The group disbanded a little after midnight, all agreeing to meet at midday tomorrow to travel to the caves in the north.
Morgan awoke, as usual, early, with a mouth full of fluff and a paw in his eye. He blearily got himself prepared and headed down for breakfast. He wasn’t surprised that Dillan wasn’t up yet, due to the early hour, and sent him a message saying that he was headed out to the forest to get to work.
His gathering went slowly until Dillan appeared, who used a light marker to show Morgan where he was. When the two had found each other, Dillan greeted Morgan with enthusiasm, “Good morning, Morgan! Sorry I’m a bit late, I got a bit caught up playing with magic. Trevor's visualisation method is amazing, I had no idea you could just play with magic like that. Check this out.”
With this, the runner held out his hand to point at the empty air in front of him. He pointed to three spots, each higher than the last, and a flat shimmer of air appeared at the three locations. The cats around their feet stared curiously at the disturbed air. Dillan then grinned widely at Morgan, and ran at the magic, using each shimmer as a step to run upwards into the air. After the third step, Dillan leapt to grab a low hanging leaf from the canopy, and then landed on the forest floor with a flourish.
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“Neat, right?” Morgan nodded appreciatively, before Dillan continued. “I’ve called it Shelf. I can see this being very useful. It’s pretty mana intensive, however, especially while you’re stepping on them. I could probably cast five at a time, but I don’t want to push it.”
Morgan spent the rest of the morning alternately harvesting and attempting to recreate Dillan's feat, which he managed after a few botched attempts. Trip, Scrap and Harriet were delighted with the air shelves, taking every opportunity to jump onto them. Ivycat lazily jumped onto one, looked unimpressed, and then ignored them from then on. Tom wasn’t particularly interested, but kept an eye on proceedings, and Luna seemed to hate them with a passion.
Morgan was using almost all his mana to get three shelves in the air, but reasoned he may be able to optimise the spell later on. After thanking Dillan for sharing his trick, the two set to gathering until noon.
When the pair met the others by the gate, with his charges secreted into the Bag of Cats. They were surprised to see Elaine there. She was waiting awkwardly alongside a happily chatting Ralph, Chris, Lana and Lauren. The five players turned to Morgan and Dillan as they approached, and Ralph greeted them with a hearty wave and a grin.
“Hi all!” Morgan returned the greeting, “You ready to go on another adventure?”
Chris reacted to this by unconsciously rubbing at the spots where his wounds from the previous battle had been, healed now as if they’d never happened.
Ralph pointed into the forest with his axe, “I’m ready if you are!”
With this, the group set off towards the forest, and Morgan slowed himself up to walk beside Elaine, trying not to let his gaze linger on his old equipment.
“Hi Elaine,” he said, “I’m glad you could make it.”
Elaine let out a non-committal grunt in reply.
“Once we’re done with the spiders, tomorrow we can go and get what you need from near the goblin camp. How’s your quota going, if you don’t mind me asking?”
The woman gazed impassively at Morgan for a long moment, before some inner resistance broke a little, and she started to speak, “I’m done on the common resource, I just need the yellow quartz now.”
Morgan waited for more, which didn’t come. He tried again, “That’s great, you must have been working hard. So, how have you been keeping yourself entertained?”
She looked at him with an expression bordering on scorn. “Mining to get a head start on my next quota, of course.”
Morgan gave up trying to converse with her. “Of course. I’ll leave you be.” He said, with finality, before heading to the front of the group to chat with the others.
It was a fairly long walk, but it passed quickly as the group chatted, and Morgan took advantage of any herbs they came across on the way. The forest soon turned to hillier ground, and the thick cover of the broad oaks was replaced with a thinner cover of tall pines. Rocky outcroppings jutted from the undulating earth, and the sounds of the forest dimmed down slowly to an eerie silence. The party could see the great wall further north through gaps in the trees, and it seemed to grow in size as they got closer.
The group reacted to the change in ambience, quietening down as the atmosphere weighed on them. Lana broke the silence, with a murmur to Lauren. “It feels pretty creepy around here, no?”
Lauren nodded slowly and calmly, gazing about like a predator looking for prey.
“You’re creepy when you get that look.” Said Lana.
Lauren flashed her a grin, before turning to the team at large, “I’ll get ahead and scout.” With this, she quietly dashed forwards and using trees and rocks as cover, started to zigzag the route ahead of the group until she was out of sight.
A few minutes later, she returned, a little winded. “OK, I found two giant spiders ahead, a few minutes' walk. Dreadspinners, level 10.” She shuddered a little, “Now, I’ve never been afraid of spiders, but none of those spiders were over a meter long. There’s an increasing amount of spider webs, and my intuition tells me that touching them will be a bad idea.”
Dillan took control of the situation, “OK all, let's get into formation. Elaine, you hang back with Harl behind Ralph, Chris and Morgan and help the frontline where you can, OK?”
Elaine nodded, and the group shuffled around to get into a loose formation. They kept moving forward, slowly, until Lauren rushed ahead of the group and held up a fist to stop the group. She pointed with one sword, indicating where she’d seen the spiders. Everyone looked to Dillan. He waved his hand forward, and the group crept slower in the indicated direction.
After a minute more of slow, tense creeping across the dirt floor, painstakingly avoiding the growing strands of web that crisscrossed the ground like the tripwires of a demented villain, they spotted the spiders. Both hung from webs that stretched from tree to tree, perhaps a meter off the ground. There were several meters of distance between the two arachnids, but they’d doubtless attack at once.
The party stopped dead still, tense muscles quivering in anticipation of the oncoming fight against the meter long spiders. Dillan pointed to Lana and then the closest spider. The elf drew an arrow to her bow, carefully aimed, and fired.
The retort of the bowstring snapping taught cut through the silent forest like a gunshot, and the projectile whistled faster than the eye could see through the space between Lana and her target. The spider noticed too late, the arrow piercing its thorax, just below the head. It fell from its web with a chittering screech, landing upright. The monstrous arachnid rose up onto its legs, the arrow sticking out and up in the air, a sticky looking blue liquid seeping around the shaft to trickle down its carapace. The other spider reacted instantly, sensing the disturbance, and skittered quickly down its web to the ground.
Both of the giant spiders jumped towards them at the same time. Lauren already had another arrow in the air as the arachnids closed the distance, their leap bringing them a good ten meters closer, leaving them a roughly equal distance away from the group. The arrow missed, sailing under an airborne spider to disappear amongst the scrub behind.
The group readied their weapons for a charge, but the spiders turned around, as if to flee. Ralph, buzzing with excitement, deflated a little, managing to shout “Hey, come and fight -” before a wad of sticky webbing hit him in the upper torso, sticking him and Chris together. Ryan swore loudly, and Chris let out a whimper as both started attempting to break the webbing that was sticking their arms down. The other spider shot another web at Dillan who was standing ready on the flank, and with a burst of speed he dodged it. Another arrow slammed into the backside of the first spider, and it span back to face them and charged. Ralph, with one arm free, tried to hit it with a clumsy downswing, but the spider easily dodged the attack. Chris, terror etched on his face, had his spear pointed at it as it charged Ralph, but the angle was bad and the spearhead skittered off the thick chitin of its thorax.
The spider bowled Ralph over, pinning him down with its legs as it plunged its fangs into his torso, piercing through his heavy mail. Chris, still stuck to Ralph by the webbing, went down with him, screaming as the spiders' legs scratched across his armour. Harl and Elaine set upon the spider from its front, as Morgan and Lauren jumped in to either side, all of them hacking at the monster. Elaine cut off two of its legs with a powerful swing of her sword, as Harl’s axe bit deep into its head, cutting deep and smashing two of its eight bulbous eyes in a spray of blue ichor. Morgan and Laurens simultaneous piercing attacks from the sides finished the creature off. The monster screeched terribly as it fell off Ralph to the side where its legs had been severed, Elaine jumping back before the spider landed on her. The arachnid landed on its back, its remaining legs twitching for a moment as the life fled from its body.
Dillan had been taunting the other spider, staying between it and Lana, keeping its attention as the archer riddled it with arrows. He deflected its fangs with his two long daggers as it leapt at him, the runner's agility and speed keeping him from being flattened. The rest of the party rushed over to aid, forming a semi-circle of blades around the spider. The spider quickly turned and shot a web at Dillan that hit his legs, pinning him to the spot before it leapt away. The group tried to hack at it as it retreated, but it was too fast, and the creature leapt out of the melee. It scuttled away and was about to disappear into a bush before one final arrow hit the spider in the back of the head, and it sank to the ground. Morgan and Lauren headed towards the creature to make sure it was finished, as the rest of the team tried to extricate themselves and each other from the sticky webs.