“Deer,” Shadow groaned, “We ended up having to hunt over a dozen deer to get enough experience to level. I didn’t even know there were deer in this forest!”

“There weren’t,” Sophie huffed as they arrived at the gate to Dusk Keep, “Dusk Keep has been having a problem with the Starved Wolves for years now. They kill and eat anything that shows up in the woods.”

“Well, it seems that problem has been solved,” Andy chuckled, “Considering that we basically wiped out the population of Starved Wolves, it wouldn’t surprise me if other animals started to come back to the forest. Isn’t that more your wheelhouse, Jakey?”

“Yes,” the man nodded, checking his inventory quickly, “Normally I would have had issues with eradicating an entire species, but it was obvious that the environment was out of balance because of them.”

“Good to know,” Shadow sighed as they reached the Adventurers’ Guild building, looking up at the angry shouts, “What’s going on in there?”

“Don’t know, shall we find out?” Andy asked, the party stepping inside.

The Guild building was packed with players crowded around the Quest Board and the counter at the back of the room, most looking angry as they shouted and swore.

“What do you mean there are no more Quests for hunting Starved Wolves?” someone yelled, another voice calling out just after, “How are we supposed to level up if you won’t let us hunt in the forest?”

“I apologise,” the Guild receptionist shouted over the noise, “But the Starved Wolf epidemic has been handled. Our scouts have reported that almost all, if not all, of them have been killed. And we ask that you not hunt in the forests until they have finished healing and repopulated with wildlife.”

“This is bullshit!” a man in a mix of leather and iron armour spat beside the party, “Can you believe this? Who the hell could have wiped out all the Starved Wolves and the WBs in one night?”

The party all looked at each other guiltily as they listened to the shouts and complaints, the receptionist obviously starting to get annoyed at the other players.

“We have other Quests available!” she shouted, “Ones a bit further afield, but I am sure that many of you are ready to stretch your wings beyond the immediate area of Dusk Keep!”

“Are you insane? Those Quests mean we’ll have to camp outside at night! The monsters go crazy when it gets dark!”

“Perhaps it is time for you to stop being so cowardly then!” the receptionist shot back, “Hiding in the Keep each night is not doing you any favours!”

“You bitch!” someone yelled, “Fuck this! We’re going into the woods and killing everything we see!”

“You will be reprimanded if you do that,” the receptionist growled, “Risking fines, and even expulsion from the Guild.”

“But who the hell killed all the wolves then? You have to tell us!”

“Yeah!” a chorus of shouts went up, the armoured man beside the party glancing at them when the receptionist refused.

“Huh?” he muttered, his eyes going wide as he stared at the group, “What the fuck?! You’re all level ten!”

“What?!” several more shouts went up as the room turned to look at Jake and the others, Jake feeling his Ring of Obfuscation practically vibrate against his hand as they stared, “They are! I bet it was them that ruined out levelling chances!”

“But how’d they do it?”

“Check out the guy in the cloak! You can’t see any info on him! I bet he’s the Firster!”

“Yeah, you can’t! He must be the Firster!”

“That explains it, then,” the man beside them growled, glaring at Jake, “The Firster must have carried them to get them to level ten so fast! Oi, Firster, how much did they pay you to do it?”

“Pay?” Jake blinked at the sudden accusation, “What do you mean pay?”

“This lot,” the man snarled, “I bet they paid you to power level them! How much?”

“But they didn’t pay me anything,” Jake said slowly, obviously confused, “They’re my friends.”

“Bullshit!” the crowd roared, starting to hurl insults at the party, “Fucking cheaters! Whores! I bet the chicks sold themselves to the Firster for the levels!”

“How much?” the armoured man barked again, “I have plenty of credits, so I’ll pay you twice what they’re giving you to power level my party as well!”

“What?” Jake scowled now, starting to get angry, “No.”

“No?” the man snorted, grabbing the handle of his longsword, starting to draw the iron blade, “You self-centred bastard! I’ll kill you!”

“ENOUGH!” the shout rocked the room, a strange and powerful pressure descending on the players as they all fell silent, even Jake feeling a cold sweat form on his brow as they all turned to the now fuming receptionist, waves of power coming off her, “There will be no violence in this Guild Hall! If you break that rule, I will personally deal with you! You want to fight each other, take it outside the Keep!”

“I don’t want to fight anyone,” Jake said softly, the words loud over the sudden silence, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise our night hunting would affect others like this.”

“Well, it did, apparently,” the receptionist sighed, “Not that this rabble deserve any better. Anyway, you lot are all at or above level ten, yes? You can go upstairs to the Guild Master and collect your City Passes then.”

The crowd started to grumble again at the words, the receptionist snarling at them again.

“As for the rest of you…as I said, we have plenty of other Quests available! So quit your bellyaching and take one of those!”

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Jake looked at his party as the rest of the players began muttering in annoyance, turning away from them, but still throwing angry glares every now and again. Andy just shrugged, leading them through the crowd towards the stairs at the back of the room. They went upstairs, quickly finding the door to the Guild Master’s office, Andy knocking loudly.

“Enter,” the gruff voice called, Andy opening the door as the party entered, the Guild Master, a grizzled older man nodding to them as he spoke, “Welcome. I see you’ve all reached level ten, so you’re here to get your City Passes, correct?”

“Yes sir,” Andy nodded, the rest of the party staying silent, “Sorry about the disturbance downstairs, we didn’t realise how much of an impact our farming would have.”

“Nah,” the man chuckled, “It’s actually a good thing you cleared out all the Starved Wolves. The other Travellers were getting complacent, letting those vermin build up their numbers before going out to hunt them just for levels. This way, they’ll be forced to take some of the more important and tougher Quests we’ve had sitting around.”

“Ah, good to know,” Andy smiled nervously, swallowing as he watched the man reach into a drawer, pulling out a set of five small bronze tokens.

“Here, these are your passes,” he said, holding them out, each of the group taking one, “Don’t lose them, it costs a silver in fines to replace.”

“Thank you, sir,” Andy bowed his head, turning back to the door as the party started to leave.

“Hold it,” the Guild Master said, making them all freeze, “You’re not planning on heading out right away, are you? Eversun is a week away by wagon, and longer by foot. I know you Travellers tend to vanish every few days, but it’ll still be a long journey.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Andy nodded, looking at Shadow, Sophie and Holi, “Two of you have signed the contract already, but we’ll still have to wait for you to get set up in the Pods. That means we have about five days before we can feasibly all leave together.”

“Good,” the Guild Master nodded, “In which case, I have a job for you. Particularly you, your lordship.”

“Me?” Jake sighed, still feeling awkward each time a native called him that, “What is it?”

“I would like you to escort a noble from Dusk Keep to Eversun,” the man said, “It won’t be too hard a task, you just need to act as extra guards against the monsters around the city. At your levels, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“When do we leave?” Jake asked, looking at the rest of the party as they muttered excitedly.

“In six days at dawn,” the Guild Leader hummed, “I’m sure you’ll all be able to help when the time comes. But until then, I do ask that you refrain from causing any more scenes like the one downstairs. It isn’t often that Melisse gets that angry.”

“Of course,” Jake nodded, “We apologise for that.”

“No need,” the large man laughed, “Like I said, it should kick those other fool Travellers in their lazy backsides and get them actually helping.”

“So, six days?” Andy interjected, the Guild Master nodding, “What should we do until then?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” the man shrugged, “As long as you’re all back by the time the caravan leaves, you can do what you want.”

“Okay, thank you,” Andy nodded as the party turned to leave again, before he stopped, “Oh, right. We also have a crafter friend who we’d like to take with, is it possible to get her a City Pass as well?”

“Are they registered with the Crafters’ Guild?” the man grunted, Andy nodding, “Then they just need to get to level ten as well. The Crafters’ Guild will give them a similar token once they achieve that.”

“Right, thank you,” Andy said as the party finally left the room, heading back downstairs and out the door, weathering the angry stares of the other players. Outside, they all let out a sigh of relief, Andy smirking slightly, “Well, that was…interesting.”

“I’ll say,” Shadow muttered, “I thought we were all about to be PKd in there!”

“Pee-kayed?” Jake asked.

“Means Player Killed,” Sophie answered quickly, “When a player kills another player outside of a Challenge or a PvP area.”

“Oh, I see,” Jake nodded, “So, what now?”

“Now, I guess we go see what level Miri is and hopefully get her to level ten as well,” Andy shrugged, “That way she can come with us.”

“How do crafters level up, actually?” Jake asked as they moved through the streets, heading back to Miri’s alleyway.

“A special kind of Quest called a Commission,” Shadow chimed in, “They have to craft a number of specific items of a specific Quality, and they get a small amount of experience for handing it in. Miri has been doing a lot of them, but last I checked, she was still only level four.”

“Then let’s go see where she’s at now,” Andy smiled, “I bet she’s levelled up a bunch after Jake gave her all those mats.”

------

“Level eight?”

“Yep,” Miri hummed as she continued to work, “I was able to complete a lot of Commissions thanks to all the materials Jake gave me and got a lot of experience for providing items over the required Quality.”

“And how close are you to reaching level ten?” Andy asked.

“About halfway to level nine,” the Amazonian woman replied, “At my current pace, I should be level ten before log out.”

“That’s great!” Shadow said happily, “And once we log out, we’ll get access to Pods and be able to play for even longer!”

“Sounds good,” Andy laughed, watching as Miri hammered out a sword on her small anvil, “So, what are we going to do for the next few days, then?”

“Well, we can’t exactly go hunting,” Shadow sighed, “So just chill?”

“I wouldn’t mind going back to my town,” Jake said, the rest of the party looking at him in surprise, “It’s been a while since I left, and I want to check on the progress of the reconstruction.”

“Oh, right,” Sophie sighed, “I keep forgetting that you’re a high-level player and have a whole town. Where was it again?”

“In the Wilds,” Jake said, “About a week’s travel to the west, over the mountains and through a large savannah.”

“Over the mountains?” Shadow gasped, “I read a forum post about a couple of parties that tried to cross the mountains together, but they all got wiped out when they were swarmed by level twenty Harpies.”

“So not going that way, then?” Andy chuckled, “At least, not yet. Oh, but Jakey can just take the Teleport Pad, right? That’s how you got to Dusk Keep in the first place.”

“Yes,” Jake nodded.

“What? But how? You have to visit a location and attune to the Teleport Pad before you can use it!” Sophie asked, shaking her head.

“Oh, it was part of my contract,” Jake explained, “I asked to be allowed to teleport to Dusk Keep as one of my benefits. It took a while because the Teleport Pad in Machiville needed to be cleared and charged, though.”

“Machiville?” Shadow snorted, “What kind of name is that? Why’d you call your town something so dumb?”

“I didn’t,” Jake shrugged, “That’s what it was called before I got it. Actually, I wonder if I can change the name?”

“You probably can,” Holi said as she looked up from her book, having been reading nearby the entire conversation, petting Eta as the wolf huffed, “Though I wouldn’t be sure how.”

“I’ll have to ask Merina about it, then,” Jake nodded, “Oh, maybe we could all go there now?”

“Can’t, busy working,” Miri hummed, moving onto another sword.

“And we can’t either, Jakey,” Andy sighed, “I mean, we aren’t attuned to your town Teleport Pad, so we can’t use it.”

“Oh,” Jake muttered, “Pity.”

“What about his Title?” Sophie suddenly asked, a thoughtful look on her face, “His Lord of the Dark Woods one, I mean. It gets the NPCs to treat him nicely, so maybe it can also affect the Teleport Pad?”

“Are you sure?” Andy asked, the Mage just shrugging as she shook her head, “Well, I guess we could try. Come on, to the main square!”

The party made the short trip without much hassle, the other players now seeming to actively avoid them except for a few hateful glances. The all looked at the circle of stone in the middle of the cobbled area, runes carved into the edges glowing with power. Andy stepped up onto it, shaking his head as he looked at Jake and the rest of the party.

“Hold on,” Jake said, stepping onto the pad beside his friend, a familiar screen appearing in front of him.

Teleport Pad

Locations:

Machiville

Note: As Lord of a town, you may invite up to four others as Guests to any town you own with a Teleport Pad.

Invite others?

Y/N?

“Ah, it seems like I can invite you as guests,” Jake said, the party looking at each other in excitement as they quickly piled onto the Teleport Pad, the stone circle just big enough to hold them all, “Hold on, let me just…”

And the world went white.