Isaiah set down the book that he was reading that contained Gabrielle’s background. He was seated in the Shadow City Public Library. It was a large building with a glass dome of a roof. It had several floors with stone shelves filled with books and scrolls. There were ladders about to reach the higher levels and candles all around on tables with chairs. An NPC elf was standing in the room not doing anything. Her name was Armise and her description told that she helped people by keeping track of the backgrounds of players.
Apparently ‘background’ was also a command. Isaiah’s player tried typing background just to see what it would do. It popped into a text editor and he typed a couple weird things before he figured out how to exit the edit state. The weird stuff he typed interlaced with commands like ‘who’ just got plopped into the text editor instead of being used at command. He then needed to look at the help file to figure out ‘background remove’ was how someone deleted their background. It wasn’t likely that anyone was going to research Isaiah but having nothing was better than gibberish.
What would he write as a background anyway? ‘An elf steps out of the woods. He kills some goblins and gets killed by goblins. Kills more goblins. He walks down a street in shadow and gets stabbed down by a hidden Nightfall for no reason at all. Well maybe something racial. Nightfall might just kill all elves on sight. Killing all elves on sight sounds like something an evil half-elf might do.’ No, Isaiah needed a better background than that. He put it to the back of his mind promising to give it more though later.
Now it was time to focus on shopping for components. There was this fancy magical bone dagger he wanted to identify. So he headed to the wizard’s tower and looked at the components they had for sale.
Bat guano 10 gold 4 stored
Blessed leather 48 gold 67 stored
Dragon scale 480 gold 70 stored
Eyelash 3 gold 11 stored
Fur 96 gold 82 stored
Pearl 96 gold 41 stored
Powdered amber 96 gold 19 stored
Sulfur 24 gold 31 stored
Tiny hearing trumpet 96 gold 32 stored
Wing feather 20 gold 79 stored
Isaiah’s player blanked a bit at the list of components. What was he looking for again? Oh right, the identify spell he just transcribed. He checked the help file for ‘identify’ to try to jog his memory on what the components were. They were a Pearl and an owl feather. He spent 960 gold for 10 pearls and placed them in his components pouch. Well he tried to. It turned out he didn’t have a component pouch. Where did it go? He was sure he got one a while back. Well another one costs 10 gold. He just paid for another one and placed the pearls in it. Hopefully this one won’t go walking off like the last one. He only had a couple thousand gold on him and buying those pearls put a big dent in his funds.
Isaiah was 50% equipped to cast identify. He had acquired pearls but lacked owl feathers. In in other words, he still couldn’t cast identify. He would have to find another alchemist who had the component he needed in stock. He thought of another darker way. If the goblins died and respawned every 15 minutes could he kill the NPC and wait for her to respawn. Would that even work? She could be a deadly fighter and attacking could be his next death. Would the alchemist even respawn? The rates might be different for NPCs than monsters. Isaiah’s player imagined the first round involving a squad of guards appearing from nowhere and his not even lasting a round after that. Maybe it was a good time to run away from this identify spell problem.
The ‘wholist’ showed Light as online so Isaiah would go find her and ask for advice. He headed back out the west road of shadow. Light wasn’t in the newbie areas helping out the low level players when he checked so he headed further west along the quiet forest road to where the temple of Lathander was. Light was in the temple alone.
Isaiah says: “Hello Light.”
Light says : “Isaiah, well met.”
Isaiah smiles and bows.
Light curtseys.
Isaiah says: “How are you Lady Light?”
Light says: “I’m no Lady, just a simple priestess Isaiah. It is good to see you and I am doing well.”
Isaiah smiles at Light.
Isaiah says: “If you are not busy could I ask you about the surrounding cities?”
Light nods.
Light says: “I will try to answer your questions.”
Isaiah says: “Well, I am in need of Owl Feathers. I looked in shadow but could not find any at the alchemist in the wizard’s tower. Do you know of other places to look?”
Light hmms.
Light says: “Well Isaiah, Daggerdale has one. That city is north of shadow by quite a bit. Tonovi is near there too but you should stay away from that place. Elves are not welcome there. The city of Tharis is south of shadow but elves are treated poorly there. They get rounded up in the elven quarter of town and ruffians attack any elves they come across. Across the sea there is a town on deku isle called verrobone that has several shops that might have your owl feathers. West of Tharis there is a town called Azha you might check there as well.”
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Isaiah frowns.
Isaiah says: “It sounds like there is a lot of hate for elves in these lands.”
Light sighs and nods.
Light says: “It is true. The cities with evil ruling them do not like the good aligned race of elves.”
Isaiah says: “It bothers me. Is there nothing to be done to free my cousins?”
Light says: “The towns are set in their own ways. If you enter them expect poor treatment and be ready to defend yourself in some cases. Some of the ruffians in Tharis can even cast magic.”
Isaiah says: “Still I would like to go and defend the elves of Tharis someday maybe when I am stronger.”
Light says: “You don’t need to be in a rush to get stronger. Focus on finding these feathers you seek before running into something too dangerous for yourself.”
Isaiah says: “Gabrielle says that we are cousins… even though.”
Light looks frustrated and frowns.
Light says: “Isaiah, I told you before to be careful around that Lovite Priestess. I don’t even talk to her and I suggest you do the same. Her attention is dangerous.”
Isaiah sighs wistfully.
Isaiah says: “I know I know… it is just… I was researching her and found that Gabrielle isn’t even her real name. Her family served Eldath before she fell in lot with Lovaitar. If she is my cousin then I would seek her redemption.”
Light smiles.
Light says: “Lathander seeks everyone’s redemption; it is like the new dawn banishing the darkness. But she is her own person Isaiah and you cannot make her forsake Lovaitar.”
Isaiah’s heart hurt because he sensed that Light was worried for him. She seemed to want to keep him safe and away from the evil players. Light is a pacifist. She wasn’t out there in the arena practicing player killer strats like White Falcon and Zeal. Light was the grandma figure that you came to for wise counsel. Isaiah’s player didn’t want to make her worry so he said he’d be careful. He didn’t lie to her but he wasn’t a child. He could make good decisions on his own. Perhaps Isaiah was a bit naive.
After Light and Isaiah parted easy in the temple of Lathander he headed back. First east along the quest forest road into shadow and then south along a path he hadn’t explored yet. His quest was the quite-common owl feather. Between Tharis, Azha, and Daggerdale, Azha seemed like the place to go. Light cautioned him about Tharis so his plan was to avoid it.
Isaiah waved to the guards at the south gate of shadow. The guards did not wave back, they were not programmed to respond to player waves. The elf went a few rooms and the pathway changed to a wagon trail with forest on each side. One of the rooms had a ‘Grand monument carved from the earth itself’ in it. Isaiah looked it over and it seemed to be a thank you to the beta testers. One could ‘read’ it and it would give a long list of 20 some-odd names. None of the names showed up on the who-list. Whoever these characters were, they must have moved on. ‘Neat’ Isaiah’s player thought as he continued to the next room south of this one. The devs running this game devs who make this game put little easter eggs to remember players long gone that will outlast them. How many console RPGs had a list of beta testers on a monument in game? He couldn’t think of any games with that.
Isaiah kept heading south along the forested wagon path. The next thing of interest was an inn. It had a sign outside it with the name ‘Rhapsody Inn’ Must be some kind of a musical establishment. There was a door that led into the inn but it was closed. Maybe this place was a popular place where player characters gathered. Isaiah shrugged and kept going south. There was a game trail that led to the east. Isaiah checked it out for a couple rooms and it led to a big open zone called ‘Darkwood’. He peered around and saw some orcs and ogres in some farther off spots. There looked to be some Voadkyn camp in the center of the forest too.
Isaiah’s player remembered Voadkyn from somewhere. He paused for a moment and typed ‘help voadkyn’ on chance that it would bring something up. Voadkyn were also known as wood giants. They were like hairless giant elves. It triggered a memory of character creation. He shuddered as that brought up some traumatic buried emotions. Voadkyn was one of the options of races he could have picked when he wasn’t trying to be a cleric. Voadkyn are a playable race. Also imagining numbers for stats rolling down the screen brought panic to Isaiah’s player mind. The number 18 felt like it was taunting him, challenging him to seek it out. Six 18s… the holy grail. Does it even exist? Isaiah’s player shook his head and tried to get the memory of character creation out of his mind. Focus on getting to Azha!
Isaiah headed back to the road. This wasn’t the right way. He was looking for Tharis and the road that led west of Tharis to Azha. Isaiah player told himself not to get distracted and get lost and killed by monsters that out-leveled his character. Isaiah kept going south trying to find the city Light mentioned.
South south south; Isaiah’s next distraction was a wagon stuck in the mud. He looked it over and the description stated that the wagon driver was struggling to get the wagon moving because the wheels were stuck in the mud. Someone could help with a ‘push’ to the wagon to get it loose. Isaiah was all about this. His character had 18(71) strength. He should be a star pusher second only to giants and orcs.
So Isaiah pushed. He took a single point of damage saying he hurt his back pushing the cart. Isaiah pushed a few more times before it came loose and the wagon driver gave him 10 silver coins. His player thought ‘what a dumb mini-game. There is no way players will flock to a game where the objective is to just push the cart.’ Isaiah had gotten distracted. He didn’t mean to. He was 10 silver coins richer but still. . . the quest for the feather . . don’t forget.
South south south, Isaiah followed the road and the forest finally parted to the city of Tharis. He mashed south too much and it would have gone right past the gate guards of Tharis’s north gate if they had let him.
Tharis Guard blocks you and points east.
Tharis Guard says: “Elves are only allowed entrance at the east gate.”
Isaiah stood there. The Tharis guards did not attack him for trying to enter the city while being elven. Apparently being an elf was not looked well upon the people of Tharis. There was a road along the walls. One went to the east and one went to the west. Apparently there were pathways to go along the outside of the city and avoid entering it to get past it. Isaiah followed Light’s advice and went to the west. He walked a few rooms west and saw a beggar begging by a sewer grate.
The beggar was wearing a hooded cloak so you couldn’t see his face. Isaiah looked at him and the description showed it was just sitting there holding out a bowl at passers. Isaiah decided to experiment and gave him a couple copper coins. Much to his surprise the beggar gave him a key.
Beggar says: “Thank you friend you can get to the elven quarter through the sewers.”
Beggar gives you ‘sewer key of Tharis’.
Isaiah unlocked the grate and took a step into the sewer. The tunnel went south for several rooms and had a couple branches going east and west in a few spots. He didn’t see anything in the sewer using the peer command. He wanted to be ready for a fight. He would equip his weapons. He wielded his sword and went to go wield the dagger in his off hand. He stopped himself and grumbled internally. Right, the bone dagger from the goblin assassin is not identified. Where are those owl feathers? Stop getting distracted!
Tharis seemed to have some kind of connection to elves. It was really hard to just walk away. Secrets could be there waiting to be discovered. Isaiah’s player wanted to throw caution to the wind and wield the bone knife. It would be a roll of the dice but what was this game if not a series of dice rolls? ‘Focus! Stop getting distracted.’ Isaiah’s player said to himself from behind the computer monitor he was glaring at.
He followed the path along the wall and saw some more Tharis guards that told him elves were not welcome in that gate either. He followed the road west of Tharis that was creatively named ‘the road between Tharis and Azha.’