In the darkness of his mind, the subtle creaking of wood planks was heard as someone outside the room walked down the corridor. Arthur slowly regained consciousness as the thuds on the wood reached his ears.
His eyes flutter open, looking up at the same old damaged joists he had seen last night. Arthur winced in pain and got out of bed, the bruises on his body from the fight with the minotaur hadn’t healed yet.
Washing his face with the bucket placed on top of the drawer by the door, Arthur opens up his menu after noticing the system was notifying him of a reward.
[Minotaur slayed]
[+200 Exp gained]
[Obtained: Minotaur horn, Minotaur hide]
[+Level up]
[+Level up]
[+Level up]
[+Level up]
[+8 Stat points]
[You gained a title!]
Slay the child of Asterius.
“Harbinger of an ill-fated end”
Always land critical hits on targets under 15% max health.
[Equip?]
Arthur stared at his menu in disbelief, he knew that he would earn great rewards from slaying the minotaur but not this much, though it made sense to him with how hard it was to deal with the beast.
Equipping the title, Arthur used the stat points he obtained from levelling up.
Thinking it might be better to focus on the stats for close combat, Arthur invests his skill points in the three most basic stats a player would need for a melee-oriented fighting style, Strength, Dexterity and constitution.
He could have gone for intellect or wisdom if he wanted to cast spells faster and effectively but Arthur already knew he wasn’t the type to stand back and use spells. Grim Tale Online had no class system, and the only way players could learn spells or skills was to learn them from books, be taught by NPCs, or meet the requirements to unlock them.
[Arthur: Harbinger of an ill-fated end]
Level 5 [227/250 Exp]
[Health: 9/11](+6)
[Stats]
Strength:5(+4)
Dexterity:4(+3)
Constitution:2(+1)
Intelligence:1
Wisdom:1
Charisma:1
[Close]
Feeling the effects of his stats increase, Arthur felt much stronger and more agile than before. Holding the side of the drawer, he tightened his grip on it.
SNAP
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[-5 reputation with Innkeeper]
“Ah, oops.” Dropping the shattered piece of the drawer to the side, Arthur awkwardly looked at the damage for a moment before exiting his room.
Heading down the stairs, Arthur glanced at the innkeeper. The innkeeper looked up from the mug of ale he was cleaning and shook his head in disappointment.
He felt guilty for causing the damage and approached the innkeeper, “Could I have something to eat?”
“Only potato gruel for you after what you did to my drawer.” The innkeeper said with a stern face.
“Shit.”
“I'm kidding. Here, it’s on the house, this is the least I can do for our hero.” the innkeeper joked as he handed Arthur dried beef jerky.
How odd, Arthur was sure NPCs would be more stiff and robotic, it was surprising that the innkeeper had some humour. Then again, Grim Tale Online’s developers most likely used a human mind as a basis for their NPCs' personalities in some mysterious way. It does creep Arthur out a bit though, they feel just as human as himself.
“Wait, why are you calling me your hero?” Arthur questioned.
“How could we not? You faced the beast alone and slayed it, saving many of those who haven’t yet fallen to its rampage.” The innkeeper smiled as he put the cleaned mug on the side before picking up another.
“Have you seen my brother? He’s a little shorter than I am and unlike my dark blonde hair and eyes, he has golden blonde hair and blue eyes.” Arthur asked with a worried expression.
“If it's the small boy you were with yesterday then no, the adventurers outside might know. One of them carried you here after you collapsed.”
“Thanks. By the way, Why is it so empty?” Arthur asked as he looked around the inn, no one else was in sight.
“It’ll be better if you check it out yourself…” The innkeeper averts his eyes from Arthur.
Walking out of the inn, Arthur noticed a large amount of gravestones at the far side of the village, some players were on their knees before the graves as they cried.
Stepping toward the graveyard, Arthur had a grim expression as he looked at one of the graves before him.
[Here lies Adam]
[2001-2031]
(My dear husband, the only light that shone in my world)
“You must be wondering why we put up the graves yes?” A voice behind Arthur asked.
Looking back, Arthur noticed the man had a bouquet in his hand and placed a flower in front of several graves close to where Arthur stood.
“These were friends of mine, they fought off the goblin horde alongside me.” A long sigh escaped from his lips, and he continued.
“James, Luke, Andrew, Sandra and lastly, Becka. After they died… they didn’t respawn.” The man knelt down, putting the remaining flowers of the bouquet in front of Becka’s grave.
“I'm Alex. You must be the one that faced the minotaur?” Alex stood up and faced Arthur.
A glint of anger shone in his eyes, contrasting with the apparent sorrowful expression on his face. It was not directed toward Arthur but rather the game they were trapped in, he was determined to resist against this world, to fight back against those who took his loved ones.
“I am.”
Alex held out his hand, “Take me with you, I have a feeling you have a clear goal on what to do in this hell and I’ll help you.”
Arthur hesitated. Should he be bringing someone else with him to find his brother? Especially someone who had just lost everyone he loved?
“Alright.” Arthur shook his hand, “Meet me at the gate to the forest in an hour, we’ll be leaving for the second town. But first I have some things that need to get sorted.”
***
Arthur bought more ammo for his crossbow during that time, the blacksmithy was destroyed so no new items could be forged but luckily the NPC survived, he already had the sword he took from the blacksmith last night, so he did not need a new weapon either.
Checking in on the inn, Arthur was called over by the innkeeper.
“I have a favour to ask of you, you see last night my boy went missing. Just like your brother had, I have reason to believe he was taken to the goblin camp in the woods north of here. Will you help me?”
The innkeeper offered him a quest, It was a surprise but Arthur knew he had to take it. He had no real lead on where his little brother could be but this might be it.
[The innkeeper’s missing son:]
Rescue the innkeeper’s son at the goblin camp
[Find the innkeeper’s son 0/1]
[Reward:?]
[Accept/Deny]
“Please, I know the odds of him being alive there are low but I’ll do anything to know what happened to my son.” the innkeeper uttered, the desperation in his voice was clear.
“I’ll do it, I might find my brother there too.”
The innkeeper subtly smiled, “Good luck hero.”
***
Arriving at the gate, Arthur met up with Alex who had also geared himself up decently.
Alex focused more on a ranged style of combat, he held a bow and had a quiver with a few arrows on his back, there were also small throwing knives next to a small leather pouch with lockpicking equipment on the belt wrapped around his waist.
“We’re going for the goblin camp instead.” Arthur swiped his menu to the side, the quest he got from the innkeeper was shared with Alex.
A slight smirk formed on his lips, “I see, this is perfect.”
“If you’re ready then let’s go,” Arthur said as he checked if he had everything he needed.
The two set out on the path toward the forest, and now their journey has just begun.