“Oh my gosh!” Heather yelled as they walked through the swamp.
“What?” Frank said in alarm as the others turned to look.
“We never asked Gwen what the name of the city was,” Heather groaned as she adjusted the strap of her backpack.
“Why do we keep forgetting to ask that?” Breanne pondered as
“I swear she told us before,” Quinny added.
“All she ever told us was the kingdoms name was Ellowshire," Heather remarked, feeling rather foolish to be a princess of a city she didn't know the name of.
“Since we are talking about names, I might just go ahead and name my village swamp town,” Finneous commented, drawing a stern glare from Heather. He smiled at her as the glare went on, finally replying with a, "what?"
“If you call it swamp town, I am going to use my stone to sink it into the swamp," Heather remarked.
“Don't you take that tone with me. I have a lesser kingdom heart too," he reminded, his smile somehow growing wider. “And since I am king, by the rules, I am your father."
“Technically, he's right," Legeis commented as he walked along on foot, his armor left behind in the mountain workshop.
Heather’s face went white as her jaw dropped, the realization starting to sink in. Quinny burst out laughing as even Breanne snickered, the shock on Heather’s face complete.
“And the glamour wears off just like that,” Heather sighed. “Well, at least I enjoyed it for a little while.”
Finneous smiled broadly but turned to regard her with a tip of his hat. “Don’t take it so seriously. I took that title to help you, but both Gwen and I agree it means nothing. Your title was serious, and Gwen honestly wants you to use it, so what do you plan to do with it?”
I suppose nothing as well,” Heather remarked. “I don’t know how to be a princess.”
“Oh, common!" Quinny laughed. "Every girl has dreamed of being a princess."
“And you know what to do?” Heather pressed with an annoyed voice.
“Sure, you wear fancy dresses and go to balls to dance with a prince."
“You watch too many movies,” Breanne scoffed. “I doubt the title comes with a power to summon a prince.”
“You don’t summon the prince, you go to the ball and flaunt your goods, and they come running," Quinny corrected.
“Sounds like a summon prince spell to me," Legeis remarked with a glance at Frank, who remained quiet throughout the exchange.
“I am not flaunting my anything," Heather remarked. "I will happily play the role if Gwen wants me to for some event, but otherwise, I am going to worry about leveling and building a proper lair."
“Boring!” Quinny teased. "You are a princess. You need to watch knights joust for your honor. Your kiss will be the reward at all the tournaments.”
“I don’t need men competing for my anything,” Heather sighed. “What we need to do is have fun and build up so when players start coming, they find something fun to explore."
“I am only teasing you," Quinny admitted. "I have no idea what a princess does in this world. It does come with pretty nice bonuses, though. You have your own kingdom heart, and Gwen can heal and protect you anywhere in the kingdom."
“A pity our lairs are outside of it,” Breanne said. “Her sphere of control ends at the keep.”
“Speaking of the keep, I hope the goblins are still waiting. I don't want to walk around the whole upper swamp," Quinny said as they approached the cliffs.
“Me too,” Legeis added. “I hate that I had to leave my armor behind.”
“Your armor was too heavy for the spiders to carry, and the keep is someplace above us, so we will know soon enough,” Heather replied as she looked up the winding path.
They climbed the cliff trail approaching the old keep, noting that things had already changed. The walls were whole, and banners of a white unicorn on a green field swayed from the towers. Guards stood at the gate in ridged attention with shields displaying the same emblem.
“This is so strange,” Heather said as they approached. “This was a ruin a day ago. I can’t believe how quickly things can change in this place.”
“Gwen is very powerful, and restoring her kingdom is as easy as hitting reset,” Breanne said as she hesitated. “She did say the guards would not attack us?”
“She did,” Frank replied as he too hesitated. “I doubt they would attack you, but Quinny, Legeis, and I might be attacked."
Heather saw their reluctance to approach and decided to stand with them.
“We can go home instead,” she offered as Frank turned on her.
“You don’t want to go in and explore everything?” he asked.
She smiled and took his arm. “Only if you are welcome to go with me. It was wrong of me to keep asking you to risk your life going places I was welcome, but you were not.”
“I would have gone even if you hadn’t asked me, but thank you for saying so,” Frank sighed and looked to Quinny, who shrugged and walked directly to the gate.
“Quinny, wait!" Frank called, but she only turned her head to blow him a kiss and kept walking. When the guards nodded and addressed her as Lady Quinny, they all breathed a sigh of relief and followed.
The courtyard was clean of debris and well maintained. It contained a small collection of shops that were little more than wagons with tables set before them. They were staffed by merchants who stood under colorful awnings, smiling and nodding as the group made eye contact. They sold an assortment of goods any adventurer would want. Armor, weapons, ropes, torches, bags, and packs could all be purchased from stalls along one wall. The barracks was fully restored, and the keep was clean with tall polished doors open wide as if inviting them in.
Inside were two distinct sections, the commander's quarters and a temple to the god Thorvus. They inspected the commander's quarters to find a sort of mini throne room where a knight in Gwen's colors stood at the top of a set of steps with a woman in white beside him. He was named Alligor, while the woman was Lady Trinas. She had little to say, but Alligor offered them tasks that could be completed in the swamp.
“He wants us to bring him ten swamp creeper tails?" Heather asked, with a glance at Frank. He explained how these were known as tasks, and players could do them for small rewards and reputation. They could be repeated once a day, so the player could continue to gain rep. All player kingdoms offered special rewards for players who earned reputation inside their borders.
“Isn’t that the same thing as a quest?” Heather asked.
Frank shook his head but explained that it was the same in many games, but here it was a little different. A task was something a player could do over and over. A quest was something that took longer to do, had a much better reward, and could only be done once.
Heather saw the difference but had to ask another question. “Why do tasks if quests are better?”
“Tasks are an easy way to earn reputation with the kingdom," Frank replied. "The more rep you have, the more access to things you have. Some of the quests won't be given to you unless you have the right level and reputation."
“And some merchants will sell you special items if your rep is high enough,” Breanne added.
“So you do tasks to get access to the quests?” Heather surmised as she tried to work it out.
“Some quests,” Frank corrected. “It’s all up to Gwen what the requirements are.”
Heather shrugged and suggested they visit the temple section and see what could be found.
The temple was a large space with deep blue banners on the wall featuring a silver water drop. Several NPC priests were wandering about, but a man in blue and gold mail armor stood at an altar near the back. He was tall with a firm visage set on dark, nearly bronze skin. He had a chiseled beard of curly white hair that hung an inch down his chin and a silver water drop tattooed on his bald head. His name was Bishop Nevel, and he offered to sell players heals, cures for diseases, and the removal of curses. He would also revive dead players if the body was brought to him.
Heather didn’t understand why anybody would do that when they would just respawn anyway. Frank explained that some players would respawn far away and not want to walk the whole way back. This way, friends playing in the swamp could revive an unlucky member and go on with their fun.
“I suppose that makes sense,” she thought as they left the main building returning to the yard. They browsed the stalls to see if there was anything unusual to purchase and were amazed to see the vendors sold magical items.
“This is because we have maximum reputation with Gwen,” Frank said. “We can see the best items her merchants can sell.”
“I can buy a wand of frogs?” Heather laughed. “What on earth does that do?”
“Buy it and find out,” Qwinny teased.
“So regular players won't see these magical items?" Heather asked as she shifted her pack, now growing heavy on her shoulder.
“I am sure some of the low-level stuff requires very little reputation," Breanne said. "But to see things like the arrows of Immolation requires significant rep. I might buy those."
“Can you lose reputation?” Heather asked as she tried to learn how the system worked.
“Yes," Frank replied. "If you break laws or kill guards, your rep will go down. If it goes negative, the shopkeepers won't buy or sell to you, and the guards might become hostile. If your rep gets low enough, Gwen can spawn special bounty hunter squads that can track you down so long as you're inside her kingdom. It's how you encourage bad players to go someplace else."
Heather tilted her head in confusion as he explained it. “Why would anybody want that?”
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“You would be surprised at how many players consider it a challenge,” Breanne said. “Playing inside a hostile kingdom is thrilling to some players, especially the assassin types.”
“If her guards are so strong, why did they lose the battle to get her stone back?" Heather asked.
“Who knows," Frank replied with a scratch at his head. "They might simply have been worn down by the dangers in the swamp or traps in the wizard's lair."
“There were a lot of traps,” Breanne agreed. “That one hallway had more than a dozen of them, and then a stone roller to finish off anyone who made it.”
“I can’t believe we managed to reset all those,” Legeis remarked. “I also can’t believe how hard it was to find that secret room to reset them.”
“I am sure there are secret rooms we haven’t even found yet,” Breanne quipped. “The place is full of tunnels and hidden rooms. There are even a few hallways we still have to explore, like what is at the top of that long stairwell that flushed out into the lake.”
“I forgot about that,” Heather said as Finneous called from the side. She turned to see he was standing by the small back gate, waiving to get their attention.
“I don’t recall this being here,” he said as they arrived to see what he was looking at.
They went out the back gate to discover the small graveyard was now three times the size with a fountain in the middle. It was made of gray stone and had three basins of water, each smaller than the one below it. An angel sat on top, pouring the water from a jug in its arms. The rest of the yard must have been as large as Frank's old yard, with well over a hundred graves marked by stones or statues.
“Did she increase the size of the graveyard for us?” Frank asked.
“She must have,” Heather replied and looked about. “The land beyond it is flatter too.”
“I asked her to do that," Finneous replied. "I want to build my town here, so the keep is right at the edge."
“Wouldn’t it have been better to build on one of her town spots?” she asked, unsure what the difference was.
“My town won't be very large, and it would be a waste of a spot like that," he explained, tipping his hat back as he surveyed the land. “Besides, I don't want to be so close to the city. I prefer a small farming village with a few simple shops. Thanks to the keep and the shops inside, I don't have to worry about adding any of those."
“Please tell me you’re going to add an inn,” Heather pressed, eager to have access to more foods.
“I am going to add a large inn, with a grand common room, and a wine cellar,” Finneous said with a beaming smile. “And I will add some NPC cooks to stock the kitchens with meals.”
“Hmm, wine," Heather said with a smile. "I could use a glass or two of that."
“Don’t you have some in your tower?” Breanne asked.
“I do, but it's nice to get out and have a glass with a good meal," Heather replied, thinking that going out to eat once in a while would add a bit of normalcy to her life.
“I can’t believe how quickly things have turned around,” Breanne remarked. “You do remember we were attacked and killed just days ago?”
“I thought this was all over,” Frank agreed.
Heather nodded as the somber thought settled on them all. So much had changed in so little time that it almost seemed unbelievable, yet here they were. She was a princess, the others were nobles, and they had a friendly city with a Queen who knew exactly who they were and didn't care. How could the situation get any better, and for that matter, what should they do now?
“Are you alright?” Frank asked when the silence had gone on too long.
“I'm fine," Heather replied. "I was just worried about Umtha. I hate that she was fighting to keep them distracted and that I haven't even considered dealing with the egg. Do you think she is here by now?"
Frank looked lost in thought for a moment before sitting on a gravestone and letting out a sigh.
“Even if she is, they are probably busy building a new village. You shouldn't worry about the egg, we all know it's important somehow, but you can't spend all your time running after these mysteries. You just discovered how fun this world can be; maybe you should explore that for a little bit."
“I agree,” Breanne said. “You are more protected than you have ever been. You even have a new name for people to know you by. I suggest you play the role of Princess Hannah and let the egg worry about itself for a little bit.”
Heather smiled and stepped up to Frank, hardly noticing the gruesome visage with his slits for a nose and grayish-green rubbery skin. "Why are you so nice to me?"
“Because I got to know you before you picked a class and were worth any experience,” he replied.
“Wow, talk about shattering the moment,” Quinny laughed.
Heather laughed and looked about the graveyard with a satisfied smile. “Players can respawn here, right?"
“Yes, if they want to,” Breanne said.
“So why would anybody pay for the resurrection in the temple? This is barely twenty meters away."
“The delay," Frank replied. "The resurrection is instant. Otherwise, the dead person's friends have to wait hours for them to respawn."
“Oooooh,” Heather said as she finally understood. “You should have mentioned that sooner.”
“Well, should we go see if the goblins have abandoned us?” Breanne asked.
“We only made them wait a couple of days,” Heather replied sarcastically as they set off, leaving Finneous behind to begin construction of his new town.
The goblins were nowhere to be found as Quinny lamented that the keep guards hadn’t killed her and saved her the walk. They considered turning around to stay in Finneous's town but went on to walk around the outer ring as the hours slowly ticked by. Well after nightfall, they finally saw the leading edge of Quinny's forest and felt grateful to be back in the dark embrace of the trees.
The forest felt dangerous at night, with strange animal noises and zombie moans echoing from the darkness. They passed down the wide lane, the odd streetlamps providing the occasional oasis of light in the darkness.
“You really made this feel spooky,” Heather said as a strangled cry echoed in the darkness.
“It's a haunted forest. It's supposed to be spooky," Quinny said as they passed the abandoned farm to see flickering lights in the eyes of distant scarecrows. "You should hear those things cackle when they attack.”
“No, thank you," Heather replied as she stared at the strange beasts in passing.
“Do you have the ability to move about your forest rapidly yet?” Frank asked.
“No,” Quinny sighed. “But it’s only three levels away. Then I can teleport behind people and scare the life out of them.”
“Won’t that make them undead?” Heather joked as she peered down the dark road.
“Very funny, but If the creeper zombies kill them and drag them back to the vines, then yes, but only as creeper zombies."
Heather was about to make another joke when an idea crossed her mind. "Wait, those are the zombies with the flowers growing on them, right?"
“Yeah,” Quinny said. “The plant is what makes them undead.”
“The plant," Heather said as wheels began to turn in her head. She started to ask questions about the flowers and the plant itself. In particular, she wanted to know what part of the plant animated the zombie.
“Why are you suddenly fixated on this?” Breanne asked.
“I am a flower singer,” Heather said.
“So?” Breanne pressed.
“What if I can use her plants as a weapon? Put these vines in my skeletons, so any player they kill becomes a zombie."
“I doubt it will be that easy," Breanne went to argue, but Heather pressed on with her thoughts.
“If the pollen is the cause of the undeath, I might be able to use it as an ingredient in some of the spell effects, or it might be a way to animate more undead than I could normally have."
“She is kind of scary sometimes,” Legeis commented. “I have a knack for building things, but she thinks of things to build that are frightening.”
“She was born to be a necromancer,” Breanne replied. “This class comes very naturally to her.”
“I want to get some samples of the plant in the morning,” Heather said with a yawn as the forest slowly went by. “I can’t believe we walked all day.” She felt a shuffle in her backpack and nearly laughed to remember Webster was still tucked away inside. “Well, I guess some of us have walked all day.” She took her pack off and set it down, urging him out as she called him a lazy spider. He chirped and shook himself out before crawling along as she listened to his complaints.
“Don’t you get angry at me,” Heather scolded. “I will turn into a bird and make you carry me the rest of the way home.”
When the bridge that separated Franks Graveyard from Quinny's river finally came into view, Quinny went to her barrow mound to see if anything had changed. Frank slunk into his tunnels while Breanne and Legeis went into the tower with Heather. Heather left them to go to her hidden room deep inside the mountain and settle into bed. The day was long and the walk home even longer, but at last, she had a warm bed and a snoring spider. All was right with the world.
Morning came with little fanfare, and Heather eagerly set about the first task of the day. She now stood before her tower, holding the magical door up as Frank and her considered where to place it.
“Should I hide it?” Heather asked as she looked around, uncertain of what to do. “Are we even sure other people can use it?”
“I would bet most people can use it, but maybe Gwen tied it to her reputation system so only people friendly to the kingdom can use it.”
“So I shouldn’t hide it?”
“I don’t know,” Frank said. “I wouldn’t put it inside the mountain just in case others can use it. If they did, they would bypass all our traps and defenses. Maybe outside the tower is better, so they still have to fight their way in."
“If I place it outside the tower, then anybody who arrives will be swarmed by skeletons and other undead. Not everybody who comes here is an enemy.”
“Well, you can't put it in the open, or people will find it and start using it.” Frank pointed out.
“Hmm," Heather said as she squinted at the tiny magical door. "It should be someplace where we can all use it easily but still be somewhat secure." Her gaze shifted around the graveyard as she considered hiding in one of the unused mausoleums. The other option was in the tower on the second floor where most of her guards were, but that level was clustered with traps and confusing rooms. There was little space left for the portal, and it would look out of place.
Heather turned it over in her hand, thinking about what it was. A magical door that went to the home Gwen gave her in the city, a magical tower of white marble, brass, and plants. It was like a vertical garden, full of beautiful flowers and magical things.
“I know where to put it!” Heather said excitedly as she thought of the gardens.
“Where?” Frank asked as she turned to look across her yard.
“In my private garden,” she said. “It will link one garden with another. It’s hidden from the outside area, well protected, and we can all reach it easily.”
“I guess that's a good spot," Frank agreed with a scratch at his head but little enthusiasm in his voice.
Heather was sure it was the perfect spot and suggested he follow as she hurried off to find just the right place. Into the lower tower and up to the second floor they went. Here they entered the balcony overlooking the gardens and descended the more decorative outer steps. She nearly tripped over Webster as he leaped to the steps to greet her, eager to be at her side again. The fuzzy spider was feeling full from his hunting of birds and rodents and was ready to sleep again. She scolded him playfully then picked him up, carrying him in one arm as they walked down the central path.
“Why not against the wall of the cliff?” Heather asked as they neared the center of the garden where her magical fruit tree grew and was currently full of little pink flowers.
“We could put it inside a cave?” Frank suggested as he considered the cliff face barely visible behind the wall of plants and flowers Heather had grown there.
“Hmm, you mean dig a small cave here to put the door in?” she asked as Webster fussed in her arms.
“Yeah, I could dig one out really quick, and the skeletons can haul away the rocks and throw them in the swamp."
It was an idea, but Heather wasn't certain it was the best one. For some reason, she felt the door deserved to be prominently placed, like a trophy on her wall. Looking to the back of her garden, she could see the head of the angel statue standing over the hedge wall. Her path of bricks ended at a stone bench and bed of flowers framed by two slender trees. She envisioned a small raised platform that was perfectly round and two steps high. The door would be in the center flanked by a pair of plants in tall, graceful pots. She set Webster down as he continued to fuss and described the scene to Frank. He still liked the cave idea but agreed that it was her garden and should do what she wanted.
A rub at her panel later, and she was digging through options. Frank helped her search through the dizzying array of garden decorations until finally, they found a simple stone disc. She could alter the disk's size, shape, and material and carefully placed one at the end of her path along the hedge wall. The garden magically adapted, easily modifying to accommodate the new structure as if it had always been there. Frank then showed her how to place a second smaller disc on top, giving her the desired two steps.
She smiled at the new feature, climbing to the top and holding up the magical door. Carefully she set it down so that it was straight and stepped back as it began to glow with a blue light. A cloud of shimmering blue smoke billowed out, bursting in twisting arms in every direction until, at last, it began to fade, leaving behind a copy of the door in the city.
“It's so beautiful," Heather remarked as she looked at the surface of the portal, shimmering like sunlight on water. "Now I need to do something about the garden," she laughed, considering the drab design around it. "The portal looks too special for such a drab background."
“Can I change it?" Frank dared to ask, drawing her from her own contemplation
“You want to change my garden?” Heather replied as if the question was silly. Why would he change anything, and if so, to what?"
“I want to surprise you,” he suggested and dared to point a finger at the glowing surface of the panel.
Heather smiled and stepped to the side, holding her arm out as she closed her eyes. He worked away for several minutes, grumbling about how hard it was to navigate and how they needed to add more design choices.
“There,” he said after a period so long her arm was getting tired. She opened her eyes to see what he changed and gasped in shock.
The hedge wall was gone, replaced by a white stone wall that rose in the center, forming a second arch that soared over the portal. It was adorned with brightly burnished brass bands and carved with defined edges that made it stand out from the rest of the wall. The garden path now went around the portal steps so one could reach the space behind it where stone planters lined the walls filled with red and pink flowers. These, too, were made out of the same white stone with brass lips, but it wasn't the flowers that caught Heather's attention. In that space below the arch was a statue of Herself, standing three times her height with one arm curled at her side, the other held out with palm up. A ghostly blue light danced in that palm, bathing the area in a magical glow. She had on a sun hat carved with such a thin, delicate rim she was sure it would break if so much as a bird landed on it. The floor around the statue was a mosaic of blues, greens, and white tiles, creating a sense of peace and life. A single stone bench rested at the foot of the statue with a blue silk cushion to one side.
“What did you do?" Heather said in equal parts of alarm and embarrassment.
Frank shrunk away as her shock startled him. He looked at his work a second time, nails nervously tapping at the stone walkway.
“I wanted it to be special,” he said with a voice that echoed his doubt.
Heather rubbed her arm, dismissing the panel, and stepped closer. Certainly, it was a lovely space and something she would never have dreamed of, but a statue of herself? Why would anybody want to see her? A thought dawned in the back of her mind as Quinny's teasing of days ago came back. She turned to see Frank, who was obviously nervous about her reaction. Had he done this because he cared about her?
“You can get rid of it,” he said when she didn’t say anything for a long moment.
“No, I," she stammered, unsure how to deal with the very sudden display of his affections. She took a deep breath and turned her back to him, walking into the alcove and picking up the cushion. "Frank, this is beautiful, and it frames the gateway perfectly," she said, keeping her back to him.
“Oh, I thought you didn’t like it,” he replied from behind as she smiled softly.
“I do like it, but I am not used to people building statues of me. It took me by surprise, is all." She turned around now and studied his grotesque face. He looked lost, with wide eyes and hunched shoulders, his fingers still nervously tapping where they dangled to the ground. He hadn't moved from the spot as if afraid to get any closer, so she waved him in and sat down, using her cushion for comfort.
“You are sure you like it?” he asked as he crouched beside her.
“Frank, I love it, but that’s quite a shock. A girl has to be prepared to see something like this.” She looked at him and was amazed that a face with no eyebrows could still look so worried. "Relax, I told you I like it.”
“I guess even I thought it was a bit much,” he admitted. “But I couldn’t think of what else to put here.”
“Hmm, is that all your reasoning was?” she teased with a narrow gaze. “Well, the portal is up. What should we do now?"
“I thought you wanted to play with those zombies of Quinny's," Frank reminded as Heather smiled.
“I do, but that can wait. I feel like we need to do something with the portal. Test it out and prove that it’s working.”
“We could always go to the city and see what your book store looks like?” he suggested innocently.
Heather nodded and stood, holding out her hand for him to take. “I like that idea. Let's go and see it before the city is crawling with players.”
He took her hand and followed, as they stood before the portal to return to the city left just a day ago. For the first time, she felt secure, safe in her home and with her friends. She even had a protector who was so powerful she laughed at the threat King Kevin presented. This was a chance at a new start, with a new name, and she was going to make the most of it. Princess Hannah was going to be a good girl, hiding the truth of the necromancer underneath. Heather felt as if her life couldn't get any better and looked forward to what changes lay ahead. With her friends at her side, she was sure those changes would be wonderful.