As they made their way through the forest, Jasper and Celeste continued their conversation and were only interrupted about half an hour later, when both of them received a notification. It was hanging right in front of them, clearly showing that they had discovered the city that they had seen from the spawn.
Location discovered: Marcusburg [https://i.postimg.cc/2j9kT2xr/image.png]
Jasper nodded along with this, as he seemed to taking in the hovering notification. It was floating in mid-air, allowing Celeste to read it as well, and she confirmed that it was the same as hers.
"Should we make these private?" Jasper finally asked, and Celeste realized that her husband was still thinking about game systems and how to adjust everything he saw. She did, however, like that he tried to pull her into the dilemma, instead of just muttering to himself. He had that habit when they first met, and it was one of the things that she encouraged him to work on.
While it honestly didn't matter to her if the notifications were visible or not, she knew that it mattered to Jasper, and as such, gave it some serious thought, if nothing else to encourage him to share his musings in the future.
"I mean, I think they should be hidden at least when you are standing out in public, though it might look silly to have players touching the air, but for people that wanna play evil characters or are trying to hide quests or achievements it would be a pain to actively hide them." She said, before adding. "That being said, I do like the fact that I can see your notifications, maybe some kind of party-up system, where everyone in the same party can see their notifications?" She added trying her best to as much context as possible.
Jasper seemed to mull it over for a couple of seconds before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Good points, I was thinking that it would be a pain to have them obstruct other people's vision, I am pretty sure that someone is going to try and use it for griefing or something like that if given the chance... not only that but I think we are going to limit the notifications for visiting new places" Jasper added with a grin.
Both of them dismissed their notifications as they got a good look at the town in front of them, and realized that it was probably closer to a village. It was surrounded by high palisades made from the wood that had been in the clearing. They were still fairly fresh, and some of the wooden stakes that had been used were trying to sprout leaves. The door in the palisade was very simplistic mostly focused on shifting a piece of wood that had been locked into the wall. It would be fairly easy to break down, even with the pair of simple wooden towers overlooking the door.
Jasper could spot a couple of guards standing in each tower, seemingly armed with bows. The guards didn't really look like a militia, their outfits weren't even colour-coordinated, let alone standardized. These were some of the local hunters who took turns guarding the town entrance. Jasper looked at his wife and smiled, stepping forward and making their way into the clearing so they would be visible to the guards.
As soon as the guards saw them they pulled back their bows, levelling the arrows at the two strangers. "Who are you, and are you with the empire?" One of the guards spoke. He was a young man, and clearly more on edge than the others.
Jasper would have thought that the young man was barely old enough to hold a bow, estimating him to be around 14 or 15. He had a pale complexion and was sporting a leather vest that didn't seem to fit him that well.
Jasper showed the palms of his hands and cleared his throat. "I am Magnus, the wise, and this is my wife." He said, and he could practically hear Celeste rolling her eyes at the fact that he had given himself a fake name and added 'the wise' to it.
"I am Celeste, the... uhm... observer." She added, struggling with what she should call herself. She had wanted to go with tinkerer, but given her dark robes, she assumed that would probably sound like a lie.
The young guardsman nodded at this declaration, clearly taking them both in. "And are you from the empire?" He tried to sound like he was in charge, but Celeste could feel how nervous he was.
"We are not. We are new arrivals from..." Jasper paused trying to figure out where he could plausibly say that he was from.
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Instantly, he felt Energy flow out of him as his Knowledge Domain activated, giving him knowledge about the human holdings that weren't within the empire.
"We are from the Rainbow Coast. The lands far to the west. We have travelled past hordes of orcs and we are just looking for a place to rest." He said, seeing his Energy go from two to one.
As Jasper gave his explanation the young man visibly calmed. He adjusted the leather cap he was wearing, his shoulders relaxing and he calmly reset the string on his bow.
"Makes sense you would seek shelter here, though I should warn you, we are not a friend of the empire, this is Marcusburg, and we have declared ourselves a sovereign nation, separate from Emperor Rivalbane's tyrannical rule. Seeking refuge here will most likely have you branded as traitors to the throne." The guard explained.
Jasper had expected this, the starting area was supposed to be neutral ground, meaning that no matter what happened, the game would not allow the human empire to conquer these lands permanently. The game would probably manufacture some kind of opposing army, or in this case, it looked like an uprising had happened.
Celeste was the one to speak as her husband had spaced out thinking about what was happening in the game. "It would be an honour to visit your city. We are not a friend of the Empire and do not plan to be." She said, and with those words, another guard made their way down the tower ladder and opened the door in the palisade.
Walking into the village there were about twenty-five houses for private living, an inn marked with the name "The Black Cauldron" on a neatly carved wooden sign, there was a couple of merchant shops as well, and to the left of the entrance was a carpenter mixed with logging hut.
All the houses were made from oak wood, which must be from the surrounding area since the wood was plentiful around here. All the houses and shops were arranged about a round town square, which was some of the only paved areas in the entire town, though the town square had been paved with random rocks from the forest, barely hewn, making the terrain uneven, even if it was steady.
Celeste couldn't believe her eyes, this place felt medieval for sure, which made sense since that was the feel that the game had been programmed to reflect, but the people they had talked to at the gate looked real, and they felt autonomous, as if they could just go out and do their own thing.
Jasper looked at his wife and smiled. "So, do you wanna upset the local economy by driving the two merchants out of business, or do you wanna try and figure out some of the problems that the town has?" He asked.
He was enjoying the way his wife seemed to be amazed by every single aspect of the game, and by showing her this world he got to re-experience it, remembering how he felt the first time he tried this. "Let's go to the inn and see what problems the town has," Celeste said determination in her voice.
As they walked towards the inn, something shiny caught their eyes. At the edge of the round town square, a man was sitting wearing full-plate metal armour. It was such stark contrast to what the guards had been wearing that there was no doubt that this was the local leader of some sort. The man's head was unprotected allowing the two gods to see his features clearly. He was handsome, clearly not from noble birth, but the rugged beauty of someone who had earned their place in the world. He had long curly brown hair with a diadem woven from young oak branches on his head.
Without saying a word, Celeste and Jasper made their way over to the man, who didn't seem to be guarded at all, simply sitting out in the open. He was talking to some locals, advising them on something that neither of the gods could hear. As the couple came closer, the man looked up.
"New people. A pleasure to meet you." He said, not getting up, but his voice seemed to convey enthusiasm as he spoke. "Please, I am happy to have newcomers join us. I am Marcus, though, after last week's battle, I believe I have earned the right to call me King as well." He said with a massive grin.
Upon closer inspection, it made sense why he hadn't gotten up. Underneath the shining metal armour, one of his legs had obviously been bandaged. Marcus must have been injured during his last fight and forced to delegate the town from a simple chair in the town square.
Celeste nodded and gave a small bow. "Pleased to meet you, King Marcus, I am Celeste the Observer and this is my husband... Magnus the wise." She was absolutely struggling with the last part, especially when she looked at Jasper and he had a massive grin on his lips like he had just eaten an entire cake without getting caught.
Marcus seemed to raise an eyebrow at their names. "Not a lot of people around these parts that have titles. You must be quite skilled at your jobs." He said, which made Celeste turn her attention back to the king.
"Indeed, I am a skilled crafter and my husband is studying the supernatural powers of the world." She explained, knowing that the term magic wouldn't make much sense for the king.
Marcus seemed to mull over this, clearly wondering how to best put these two new people to work. "I will admit that our battle against the empire was blessed beyond anything that I could ever have expected, I also know that our hunters have had trouble with quite a few monsters. If you can help kit us out, then please, we will gladly pay you, as long as you don't mind imperial coin." He said, making both Jasper and Celeste smile.
It seemed like helping out Marcusburg would be the best way to start fixing bugs in the world, after all, without a starting location newbies would have a hard time.