The Town of Crossings was lively. It was very similar to Novus Town, except it wasn’t on a hill, it bordered a forest, and there was a small stream that ran through the middle of the town and into the thick growth of trees. There were players wandering in and out, many of whom wore expensive looking equipment. Aquila spotted a player that donned a blue breastplate with red trimmed edges, there were two half-elves wearing long white and yellow capes, and one human wore a black cloak with stars that seemed to glow.
‘Surely,’ Aquila started as they approached the gates, ‘this secret spot of yours isn’t actually inside the town, is it?’
‘It’s pretty close by,’ Slie replied.
‘We just need to get some supplies first, and then we’ll go straight over,’ Nixie said.
Aquila looked over at a large signpost just off the road.
Welcome to The Town of Crossings.
‘Why do they call it the town of crossings anyway. Do you know?’
‘I can only assume,’ Slie started, ‘because the south road leads to Novus Town, the north road leads to Ambrosiana, and the western road leads to Asphodel; where we need to go to get this counterspell.’
‘And the eastern road? Where does that lead?’
Slie shrugged his shoulders.
‘Dunno.’
They made their way through the entrance gates, past the guards, and down the wideset cobblestone streets. Players ran by, chatting and calling out to each other as they went. Some were alone and others were in groups. A few were trying to sell items, but this town didn’t seem to be an overly large hub for trading.
The buildings were made of grey stone, they had tiled roofs and were slightly denser than the buildings in Novus Town, many of them being two or three storeys, rather than single storey cottages. Nixie seemed to know where she was going, as she confidently turned into a narrow side street, leading them around several corners, and then they popped out on what seemed to be another main road; they continued heading down the road, but by this point, with all the turning, Aquila wasn’t sure if they were heading further into the town, or towards its outskirts.
They did pass quite a few interesting places as they made their way towards wherever it was that Nixie was leading them. Aquila saw a street stall store that was selling fruit and vegetables, a brightly coloured cake shop, and the blacksmith; which really did peak Aquila’s interest. It was an open building, with no walls, doors or windows – just a pillar in the corner and a roof. Several players were using the smelters, and the NPC blacksmith was hammering down hard on one of the anvils.
‘This way,’ Nixie said turning down another little side street.
He felt Slie pat him on the back.
‘You’re better off saving up for a more expensive weapon,’ he said showing a glint of his black dagger, ‘trust me.’
The camping shop was a cosy place, built into one of the many narrow side streets, with large windows and displays of bows on the walls, along with several pairs of boots upon the counter, and bedrolls laid in the corners. There were players talking to the NPC at the counter, and other players who browsed the items that had been put up to look at. It was a fantasy version of any outdoor shop he would have visited in real life.
All Nixie needed were some more warding potions, so they were only there for a minute, before Nixie led them out the store and back the way they came.
Next was the potions shop. It was much the same – except it was filled to the brim with all different coloured vials stacked on shelves, and plants of many kinds that hung from the ceiling, and grew upon the walls and trellises. Aquila didn’t have too much money left, after he’d stocked up at Novus Town a couple of days ago, but he couldn’t help but buy two cheap potions of minor healing. Meanwhile Nixie bought dozens of manna potions and Slie lurked in a sunlit corner, fiddling with a red and yellow vine that grew over the wall.
‘How many times have I told you not to touch that!’ the store owner yelled at Slie as Nixie was browsing through the items.
‘More times than I can count,’ Slie said, ‘but you know you don’t really care. We’re your most loyal customers after all.’
‘You ARE NOT my most loyal customers. Keep going and I’m going to ban you from coming here!’
Slie smiled sarcastically.
‘Your kind words warm my heart. They really do.’
Nixie shot Slie a stern look; and began apologising to the store owner frantically on his behalf.
***
‘Can you really get banned from shops in the game?’ Aquila asked once they were back out in the streets and on their way to the fletcher.
‘I’m not sure,’ Slie replied, ‘but that shop owner has threatened to ban me at least five times, and she still lets me in. To be honest, at this point I’m just trying to annoy her to see if you actually can get banned from shops – or if these NPCs are all bark and no bite.’
‘The town guards definitely bite. I’ve see it first hand.’
‘I’d prefer you didn’t banned, Slie, the potions shop isn’t really the place you want to be kicked out of. Common, this way!’ Nixie strode on ahead.
The fletcher was much the same as the last two shops; except with arrows hanging up on the walls, instead of vials, plants and outdoor equipment.
‘Get as many arrows as you can afford if you want to level up your archery,’ Slie said, ‘the cheap ones will do. The expensive ones are better used if you’re in a pinch.’
‘Unless you’d prefer to focus on your light-handed skill,’ said Nixie.
Aquila shrugged his shoulders.
‘Why not both?’
Nixie laughed.
‘Indeed, why not both.’
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Aquila bought several bronze arrows and a couple of slightly more expensive arrows that were labelled pointy tip stone arrows. Weren’t really that good, but they did have a slightly higher damage output. But with that, he’d spent the last of his coins and Aquila was now officially broke. He didn’t mind too much – he was sure he’d find a way to make more money.
After they were finished at the arrow shop, they began to make their way towards the outskirts of town; in the direction of the forest. The wide arched gates that led out of the Town of Crossings on the Eastern side was almost a part of the forest. The thick trees grew all the way up to the edge of the town. It was as though the awkwardly thatched palisade walls were the only thing keeping the forest from moving any further west. As soon as they passed through the gates, the road turned from cobblestone to dirt, and they were instantly covered by the thick branches and leaves of the trees overhead, though the canopy itself let in tiny rays of beautiful light that created small golden spots on the ground.
They continued along the road deeper into the forest; it seemed to be quite a popular area, as there were quite a few players running around within the depths of the trees. Aquila also noticed signs of life everywhere, from bees and dragonflies that buzzed around in all different kinds of directions, to the rabbits and deer that bounded past them occasionally. However nobody seemed too concerned with killing rabbits and deer anymore. They did, however, pass one group of players that were attacking a humanoid creature which looked as though it was made of tree bark. The creature had arms that extended like vines, and leaves on its head that resembled hair, along with two green shining eyes. The tag above the creature read:
Forest Dryad – Level 8
There were three players swinging different coloured swords at the creature; one sword, held by a wood elf, looked as though it was on fire. Meanwhile three other players stood back with large bows and were shooting rapidly. Every time the dryad attacked, it would extend its arms which whipped around and damaged all three of the swordsmen at once. But they weren’t losing too much health. That was when Aquila noticed a male fae, far behind them casting healing spells. The fight only lasted ten seconds before the dryad died, and the group moved on, Aquila could only assume, they were off to look for more mobs to fight.
Aquila would have been nervous about the group attacking them if they weren’t still in a safe zone. Instead he was nervous about the dryads.
‘Do you think we’ll be okay if one of those things tries to attack us?’ Aquila asked.
‘Don’t worry,’ Nixie said, ‘they’re not too aggressive. They’ll only attack if you get too close to them – and they won’t chase you for long.’
‘But if it came down to it… I reckon we could take one,’ Slie added.
As they continued, Aquila spotted more and more players grinding on dryads. Most of them were in groups, though they did pass one player who was soloing a dryad, and he seemed to be doing pretty well too.
‘A little further,’ Nixie reassured him, not even phased by the players around them.
The road had all but disappeared by now, replaced by the dirt, grass and leaves of the forest floor. Occasionally they passed something interesting, like a red mushroom or glowing flower; and Nixie would always skip over and pluck it up whenever she saw one.
‘These are great for making potions,’ she said to Aquila, ‘not that I actually have much exp in herblore, but potion makers buy them for a decent price.’
They were walking for about another fifteen minutes, stepping over thick roots, wading through tall grass and circling around the large tree trunks before the forest opened up. Though none of that actually slowed Aquila down, as they were technically in forest terrain. There weren’t as many players around now, but they still passed the occasional player wandering among the tree trunks.
‘Watch your step,’ Slie said putting a hand in front of him.
Aquila realised why Slie had given out the sudden warning. In front of them was a large ravine, about five meters wide, and extremely deep. He had no doubt that if he fell into the ravine, he’d have no chance of surviving. The gap between the two edges was almost close enough to jump over though. Trees lined the cliff face on the other side - clearly the forest continued as normal. But they clearly weren’t planning on jumping over. Nixie began leading them along the edge of the cliff.
‘We haven’t passed it have we?’ Slie said to Nixie.
‘I don’t think so…aha, there it is!’ Nixie ran over to a large tree some way away from the cliff, and stood over a fairly big rock at its base. It was a smooth and polished rock, but it didn’t really seem much different from any of the other rocks they’d passed on their way here. Slie began looking around vigilantly.
‘I think we’re in the clear,’ he said as he approached the rock. Nixie took a small vial full of yellow liquid from her inventory and handed it to Slie. Slie downed the liquid with one gulp, and then bend down and lifted the large rock (which would easily have been double his weight) with both hands, and then moved it to the side. Slie turned and winked at him.
‘Strength potion.’
On the ground where the rock had been, Aquila noticed a small, round trap door. Slie opened it up, slid into its depths and disappeared.
‘You head in next Aquila,’ Nixie ushered him forward.
As Aquila approached the manhole, he could see a flimsy little ladder that dropped down. Aquila stepped in and began to descend; Nixie was last, and she closed the trapdoor behind her, leaving them in complete darkness, though because of Aquila’s night vision – he could see perfectly well.
Aquila felt his feet touch the floor after about thirty seconds of climbing down. He turned and expected to find himself in a cave, and it kind of was a cave of some sorts, but there were also crumbled brick walls and torches that burnt eternally bright, as well as gooey green liquid on the floors. So it was something between a cave, a dungeon and a sewer.
Aquila heard a splash behind him as Nixie jumped the last few rungs of the ladder and landed in a puddle.
‘What is this place?’ Aquila asked as he looked around.
‘It’s our secret spot,’ Nixie replied, ‘but this isn’t where we train. It’s just a little further on.’
Nixie and Slie led him forward, the walls slowly formed into a smaller passage. Eventually, Slie and Nixie stopped in front of a rotten wooden door that was embedded into the crumbled wall, it clearly led into some room. They pushed it open and walked forward. Aquila followed.
The room Aquila found himself in was illuminated with natural light. There were three walls, but the furthest end was completely open, and facing into the same ravine that Aquila had been observing earlier. And even though they had dropped in height at least ten meters, the drop still seemed to be a good way down.
Directly opposite them, across the gap in the ravine, there was another room, embedded into the cliff face that pretty much mirrored the room they were currently in. It was barely five meters away. Although Aquila, again, felt like he could have been able to jump over the gap, and into the opposite room – but he wasn’t sure that he would want to. In the room across from them, five skeletons wandered aimlessly, their eyes glowed, and they had swords, helmets, and shield equipped.
‘Well, here we are,’ Slie said, ‘what do you think?’
Aquila didn’t answer, but instead he looked around, amazed, slowly coming realising why this was such a perfect training area.
Slie waved his hand in the direction of the skeletons.
‘They can’t get you, so shoot away,’ Slie said.
Aquila observed the skeletons again. Most of them were level 7, though there was one that was level 8.
‘And if I need to collect my arrows?’
‘There’s a bridge in the next room that crosses the ravine, and leads to a passage, which, in turn, leads to that room,’ Nixie explained, ‘And that’s also how you get over there if you want to train your light handed skill. Don’t worry about dying either – I’ll keep you at full health. You grind by killing skeletons, I grind by healing. It’s how I level up.’
‘How did you guys find this place, anyway?’ Aquila asked.
‘Basically because I’m a genius,’ Slie said.
‘Basically because you’re an idiot, but it worked in our favour,’ Nixie corrected.
Aquila laughed.
‘We killed a mob that dropped a strength potion, once, just outside the fields on the western side of The Town of Crossings. It was a pretty rare drop; well for the mob we killed anyway. Strength potions aren’t all that rare. Well some are – but not this one. Anyway I didn’t know what to do with it. When we found this ravine, I thought it would be fun to try to throw a few large rocks off the cliff and see what happened. Of course, the higher your strength stat is in this game, the easier you can lift heavy objects. I drank the strength potion, lifted that rock at the base of this tree, and voila, we found ourselves a neat little training room.’
Aquila equipped his bow, turned and shot one of the skeletons. It drew 3hp. The skeleton turned to face him, moved to the edge of the cliff, stopped, then turned back around and continued to wander aimlessly.
‘Brilliant!’ Aquila remarked.
Slie bowed.
‘Happy grinding!’