The inn was lively and full of both players and NPCs. Some of them sat up along the stools at the bar which lined the back wall. Others were drinking, eating and chatting at one of the many tables scattered throughout the inn. There were even players sitting in a dark corner by a green fire, singing to the tune of a song that was being sung by an NPC bard. Nobody really paid him any attention as he walked through the door and approached the bar quietly.

The bartender, a bald man, was wiping down an empty glass as Aquila slid onto an empty stool in front of the bar. Not that glasses actually needed to be cleaned in the game. But it added a beautiful aesthetic to the life of the inn, as did the display of glasses that lined the shelves behind the bar, and the kegs that lay underneath them. The bartender quickly put down the glass and moved over to take Aquila’s order.

‘Can I help you?’ the bartender asked.

‘I’ll be needing a room for the night, but first, a pint of mead. Oh and what food are you serving?’

‘Why don’t you take a look for yourself,’ the bartender replied.

A window appeared in front of Aquila showing everything that the inn was offering.

Food

Bread – 1 gold

Blueberry pie – 4 gold

Rabbit Stew – 5 gold

Salad – 2 gold.

Tomato soup – 2 gold.

Steak and chips – 3 gold.

Chicken parmigiana – 6 gold.

Drinks

Water – 1 gold

Lemonade – 2 gold

Orange juice – 2 gold

A glass of wine – 4 gold

A pint of mead – 3 gold

Sweet tropical special – 3 gold.

Rooms

Basic room – 10 gold.

Comfortable suite – 25 gold.

Deluxe room – 50 gold.

The food that the inn was serving was new, but most of it was self-explanatory. However, the options for the rooms were what confused him most; as the inns he’d stayed at in Novus Town only ever offered the basic one. Aquila swiped the window away.

‘What’s the difference between the basic room, comfortable suite and the deluxe?’ Aquila asked the bartender.

‘The price for starters!’ said the bartender laughing to himself. It seemed as though the NPCs at least tried to joke, though Aquila didn’t really find it all that funny.

‘You’ll find that each room has different cosmetics,’ the bartender continued, ‘as well as perks. Your basic room for starter has a classic run-of-the-mill bed. Not great, but not too shabby either. A firm mattress, not soft, a medium sized quilt and large enough for most players. The walls and the décor, pretty basic, but you get what you pay for.’

The bartender continued explaining, but Aquila had really stopped listening. As he was trying to figure out how to reword the question, so as to simply draw out just the information he needed from the NPC, he felt someone nudge him in the side. Aquila looked over to see a small fae girl. Aquila hadn’t noticed her before as she’d been talking to someone else, but now she was facing him with friendly eyes and a bright smile. Aquila recognised that smile – it reminded him of a smile he used to see every day. It was the kind of smile that was always there even when it wasn’t.

It couldn’t be.

‘Sophia?’ Aquila asked.

The fae rose an eyebrow without letting that smile disappear.

‘Sophia? Who’s that?’

Aquila felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment.

‘Oh… never mind. Did you ahh… need something?’

The girl shrugged.

‘I didn’t think you wanted to listen to that bartender’s rambling,’ the girl replied.

‘Hey!’ the bartender interjected, ‘I wasn’t rambling.’

The NPCs in this game never ceased to surprise Aquila by how well they could emulate human emotions and behaviour. The girl ignored the bartender and continued talking.

‘All you need to know about the rooms, is that apart from being a little more luxurious – the more expensive rooms offer certain bonuses. The comfortable suite will give you an extra 20hp and stamina if you sleep in it for seven hours or longer. Temporary hp and stamina of course. The deluxe is more or less the same – except it also gives you an extra 30hp instead of 20.’

‘That’s pretty much what I was going to say,’ the bartender complained.

‘I’m sure you were,’ she told the bartender reassuringly, before turning back to Aquila.

‘You seem to know a bit about this place; how long have you been staying at this inn for?’ Aquila asked.

‘We just got in this afternoon. A little stopover. But we’ve stayed at a few other inns with some similar rooms. Oh, I’m Nixie by the way.’

Nixie held out her hand and Aquila didn’t hesitate to take it. Nixie_Pixie was her username – her tag hovered just above her head.

‘Aquila,’ he said before letting go.

The another player, who sat at the bar on the other side of Nixie, leant forward so that Aquila could see him.

‘And I’m Slie.’

An umbra with black hair that had been tied up into a ponytail, sat hunched over a glass of wine and had what looked like a feint smirk on his face.

‘Me and Slie have been friends since the first day of the game; we’ve been on a few adventures together,’ Nixie leant over so that her lips were close to Aquila’s ear, ‘he’s a little drunk at the moment though.’

Aquila’s eyes widened.

‘You can get drunk in the game?’

Pixie nodded.

‘Apparently so. The drinks in the game aren’t as potent as they are in real life. I mean, I can’t really attest to that myself, as never really drank much in real life. I’m only fourteen after all. But…’ Nixie pointed her thumb at Slie, ‘he can.’

Slie slipped off the barstool, stumbled slightly, and took two long strides so that he was in front of Aquila.

‘Indeed, that, I can attest to!’ Slie announced to Aquila a little too loudly, ‘and for the record Nixie, I am not drunk.’

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

But Slie gave himself away when he swayed to the side, and had to take a few steps to balance himself.

‘Well maybe a little drunk; tipsy. I’m tipsy. That’s all.’

‘Does it affect your stats?’ Aquila asked, ‘surely it lowers your precision, agility and strength?’

‘What strength?’ Slie threw his hands in the air, ‘I’m an umbra, an umbra my friend. We excel in stealth. Stealth is our friend.’

And then, out of the blue, Slie began to dance. And surprisingly he wasn’t too bad either, although a little awkward, Aquila couldn’t deny that there was some rhythm to the way he moved – obviously he’d had some experience doing it before he entered the game. As random as his sudden dancing had been, what struck Aquila as even more random was when he began to sing.

‘Oh, there once was a poor little umbra, an umbra who had no strength. A poor little stealthy umbra. For that he’d go any length. An umbra with long black hair. An umbra with sharp little claws. Oh an umbra, an umbra an umbraaaaaaaaaa!’

Slie turned and bowed to the three other players sitting at the closest tables who were now giving him a little bit of attention. But they quickly lost interest and turned back to their own business.

‘Thank you. Thank you,’ Slie turned back to Aquila, ‘and for the record, alcohol is weaker in the game than it is in real life, and it does lower your precision, strength, and agility. But who needs agility, strength and precision when you can…disappear!’

Slie threw his hands in the air and then vanished right before Aquila’s very eyes. Aquila blinked and looked around. The umbra was nowhere to be seen.

‘Believe it or not,’ Nixie said from beside Aquila, ‘he’s normally like this.’

‘How did he…?’ Aquila said scanning the room again to see if maybe Slie was simply hiding. He looked over at the players who were sitting at the tables eating, drinking and chatting. Then over at the NPC bard who was singing by the fire, and the players singing along with him. And finally Aquila searched the bar, but there was no sign of Slie. None of the other players around seemed too phased by what Slie had just done either.

‘It’s his racial ability,’ Nixie explained sensing his confusion, ‘he can turn invisible for five minutes once a day. It’s quite late, and he hasn’t used it today. So I guess he thought he might as well use it before it resets at midnight.’

It was then that something clicked into place for Aquila. He cast his mind back to the first day of the game, when he’d caught an umbra trying to pickpocket him. It hadn’t really happened to him again since then, because people quickly learnt what happened if you got caught pickpocketing in within a town, but that day he remembered an umbra appearing abruptly over him as though the umbra had been invisible. Now it dawned on him, that umbra had been invisible.

Aquila turned back to face Nixie, ready to continue picking her brain about the umbra’s traits. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, he heard a voice speak into his ear.

‘Boo!’

Aquila jumped two feet into the air and spin around.

Slie appeared in front of him, manifesting out of thin air, with his head back laughing.

‘You must have been living under a rock if you haven’t seen that one before,’ Slie said slapping Aquila heartily on the back and slipping onto the barstool on Aquila’s other side, so that Aquila was now surrounded by Nixie and Slie, ‘But it worked in my favour because I love to make a dramatic introduction. And also, Nixie wasn’t really lying. I have had a few to drink. But more importantly, who’s Sophia huh? That your girlfriend?’

‘Slie! Leave him alone – it’s his business,’ Nixie scolded.

But Aquila quickly brushed away any concern.

‘It’s fine,’ Aquila said, ‘she’s just a friend. A friend I came into the game with. You reminded me of her, that’s all.’

‘There are a lot of people who came into the game together and got separated,’ Nixie said, ‘don’t worry. You’ll find her eventually.’

Nixie gave Aquila a comforting nod.

‘Unless she’s dead…’ Slie added.

‘Don’t say that!’ Nixie said glaring at Slie before turning back to Aquila, ‘I’m sure she’s fine!’

‘Thanks. But it is a valid concern,’ Aquila said, ‘It’s not really like her and Alister to leave me behind. I really do hope nothing has happened to them,’ Aquila stared down at the bar feeling his emotions decline a little.

‘Alister? So you came in with two people?’ Slie said.

‘Yeah. My two best friends from school. Sophia was actually the one who signed us up for the beta. I’m sure she wouldn’t have if she had known where we’d end up.’

There was a pensive moment of silence as all three of them began to sink into their own thoughts

‘Aquila, is that a sword on your back?’ Slie asked. It was actually slotted on his quickselect belt, but whenever you had an item ready on your quickselect menu, the game also added it to the character’s aesthetics, meaning that other character’s could see the weapon strapped to his back.

‘You’re only level four – but it looks like you’re focusing on light handed weapons. Or are you an all-rounder?’

Aquila didn’t know if this was his attempt to change the subject, or if the umbra really did have some questions about the way that he played the game.

‘Light handed weapons, and archery mostly.’

‘Hmm,’ Slie muttered as he scratched his chin, ‘How about you travel with us for a little while Aquila? We could use a swordsman on our team. We’ll help you learn the basics of the game. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. Plus you we can also help you look for your friends. Right Nixie?’

‘I…’ Aquila began but trailed off.

‘For once I agree with him,’ Nixie joked in a gentle voice, ‘this world is much safer when you’re travelling with people. What do you say?’

‘I would but…don’t you have quests and stuff that you want to get done?’ Aquila asked hesitantly, ‘you two are much higher level than me. I’d probably only be a liability.’

Aquila had noticed that Slie was level 8, while Nixie was level 6, although not as high, she was still higher than Aquila who was at a measly level 4.

‘That will change in time,’ Nixie reassured him, ‘And yes, we are chasing a few quests, or rumours of quests anyway. But if you join us, you’re bound to either run into your friends at some point, or come across some kind of information about where they are. Once we’ve done what we need to do, we can help you look for them! Promise!’

‘Why would you be so willing to go out of your way for me. I mean, you barely know me.’

‘As I said earlier,’ Slie started, ‘we need a swordsmen on our team. I’ve put all my passive points into stealth – and Nixie is a healer. We’ve been getting by so far through strategic planning and a bit of luck. But it hasn’t been ideal.’

‘You also seem like quite a genuine person,’ Nixie added with a soft touch to her tone of voice.

‘Or should we say, a little genuine elf!’ Slie joked.

‘Thanks, I appreciate the offer… but…it’s just…I’d prefer to travel alone. I’m sorry’ Aquila said.

Slie nudged him slightly.

‘Did you have a bad experience out there?’ Slie asked.

For someone who acted like an idiot; he sure was perceptive.

‘You could say that.’

‘What happened…if you don’t mind me asking?’ Nixie inquired.

‘I don’t mind. Essentially, I got lured during my third day in the game. I was pretty stupid. A level 1 snow elf just randomly came up to me and started talking to me. He told me about how he was on his own in the game, how he felt vulnerable and wanted to make friends. He said he’d feel much safer if he had someone to travel with and someone to help him out with quests. I bought it too; my stats were a bit higher than his, so I didn’t think he’d have a chance against me if a fight broke out. Turns out he had half a dozen mates waiting for me as soon as we travelled out to the PvP zone. I tried to get away, and nearly outran them too; but one of their stupid mages cast this spell on me that froze my legs and I couldn’t move.’

‘Sounds like you got done by a low-level binding spell!’ Slie said.

‘You can get that spell scroll by taking a pretty easy quest just outside Novus Town; it’s quite popular with mages at the moment. A lot of people cast the spell on mobs – as it makes training easier. But some mages have been using it in PvP zones on unsuspecting players. They travel in groups, bind the player and then they…’ Nixie trailed off.

‘And then they kill them,’ Slie finished her sentence for her, ‘mercilessly might I add.’

‘I’ve never seen it myself. But it’s kind of the talk of the town at the moment. I’ve been warned about a dozen times to watch out for those kinds of people killers. The spell itself has a low chance of actually hitting though, so you must have gotten pretty unlucky.’

‘But obviously he’s still alive. So he’s not that unlucky. What happened in the end?’

‘Unlucky, or lucky. Whatever you might call it. I was saved by a bunch of goblins, believe it or not. They spawned in the nick of time, and took out their whole group, except for one. I only just got away.’

‘I’d call that lucky. But those players sound like scum!’ Slie said, ‘don’t mistake us for players like that.’

Aquila smiled.

‘Don’t worry. That wasn’t the impression I got. You two seem like you’re pretty nice and also… quite knowledgeable about the game. Unfortunately for me, that experience scared me into staying in Novus Town for…well… most of the time I’ve been playing the game – all the way up until today. I’ve really only just left. Do you guys, ahh, know if that spell has a weakness.’

‘You only just left Novus Town? No wonder you were surprised by my disappearing trick then!’

‘It’s completely understandable after what happened to you Aquila,’ Nixie started, ‘so far as we can tell, there are two drawbacks to using the spell. It takes up quite a bit of manna, and it has a low chance of hitting. These might not be problems for long though, when mages begin to level up as the game goes on.’

‘That’s why Nixie and I have been searching for a way to counter that spell. That among other things. As I said earlier – while many players have been powering through the game by tanking, grinding and travelling in large groups, we’ve only gotten as far as we have by being strategic and planning ahead. And we knew we needed to be prepared especially because that spell really does sound nasty. So we did a bit of digging and we have some leads. Nothing concrete, so no promises. But stick around and you might get a share in the spoils. Oh and if you don’t mind, please keep that on the downlow, it’s not really common knowledge.’

‘Look, you both seem trustworthy. You really do. And I can’t deny that discovering a counter to that binding spell does sound tempting. But it might be something I have to come across on my own. I know firsthand how deceptive people can be when it comes to preying on low levelled players. I’m not saying you are preying on low-levelled players…but I promised myself I’d be on my guard. The only real people I can trust in this game are Sophia and Alister.’

‘Well, suit yourself,’ said Slie.

‘It’s up to you,’ Nixie said with a slightly more upbeat tone, ‘but we’re leaving at noon tomorrow in case you change your mind.’

‘Thanks,’ Aquila replied, ‘I’ll keep it in mind.’

‘At least stick around for another drink, though!’ Slie suggested.

‘Another drink? He hasn’t even had his first drink,’ said Nixie.

‘Oh right, then first drink is on me,’ Slie declared and slid a large glass of mead in front of Aquila a moment later.

It looked like Aquila was sticking around for a drink whether he liked it or not.