At 10am, I was one of the only guys on time. Lincoln had already arrived with his wolf and one of the younger guys was standing by with his staff. Danny showed up at 10:05, along with Carlos. At 10:12, Craig and Liam lolled into the group, obviously on their second or third beverage of the day. Danny rolled his eyes. “Thought you’d never show.”
Craig feigned a taken aback look, “Danny, I figured you’d know. It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere.”
Liam echoed a laugh and a smile flashed across Danny’s face. “Alright boys, bet you can see our wonderful ranger has joined us today. Flashy new pistols and all, by the looks of it.”
Lincoln scoffed. “I thought I was the ranger, Dan?”
Danny chuckled, “Your spot is being challenged. Don’t worry, it’s temporary. Quinton, you got another guy to heal now. You okay with that?”
The young man with the staff smiled wide, “Don’t worry about me, boss.”
I was a little surprised at the respect Danny commanded, but not really. Quinton and the rest of the group idolized Danny, and it was clear why. He was strong, a front-line fighter, and a team player. He was naturally charismatic and good at leading people. He fit this role. I did not.
Danny gave a clap of his hands. “Alright, boys. We’ve got decent stamina stats and we’re a fast crew. Shackleford had 2 small towns and hell of a lot of wildland. From what we know, there are no other players in the area, but always keep a lookout. Moran is about 29 miles out. Pre-game population of around 200. I’m expecting to find ruins and some decent level creatures along with decent level loot. This is a big adventure and we’ll probably be out for a while. I’ve got enough bread rolls and other food stuffs in my inventory to last the seven of us about a month. I don’t plan to be out nearly that long, but who knows? We’ll camp the first night and then head into Moran tomorrow afternoon. After that, depending on what we find, we’ll explore some of the wildland and try to level up.”
“Let’s get a summary of everyone, yeah? Mainly for Jere-bear’s benefit.”
I hated that nickname.
“I’m Danny.”
The group echoed a “Hi, Danny” as if it was an AA meeting.
“Paladin Class, Level 12.”
Craig smiled, “I’m Craig, Knight Class and Level 10.”
Liam raised his hand, “Liam, Barbarian Class and Level 11.”
Lincoln patted his wolf on the head. “Lincoln, Ranger Class and Level 10.”
Carlos was next up. “Carlos, Wizard Class and Level 10.”
Quinton raised his staff. “Quinton, Priest Class and Level 9.”
The group looked at me with expectation in their eyes. They wanted me to introduce myself, too? This is stupid. I already know these people and they know me. Oh, well. “I’m Jeremiah, Ranger Class and Level 12.”
Danny nodded. “Good! Now that everyone knows everyone, we can get started. Let’s…start walking!”
------------------------------
The first day was relatively uneventful. I had always figured life would be easier traveling in a party. I hadn’t guessed by how much. Despite splitting gold, experience, and items 7 ways, we faced very little trouble. An hour or two into Eastland county, and we were chopping apart a pack of 8 Kobolds like they were butter. By the end of the day, we had taken out 22 Kobolds, 16 Gnolls, and a dozen wolves. Despite the party split, I came out of it with 10% experience and 140 gold. It wasn’t much, but it was a solid day of adventuring with near-zero risk. Danny took most of the hits along with Liam, but Quinton quickly healed them.
It was the first night that proved to be an issue.
I was woken up to screaming and the sound of steel hitting steel. As I stood up, I barely saw the large wooden club hit me in the head. I went rolling across the campsite. As I drew my pistols, I saw our attackers. A group of Bisonmen had attacked us in our sleep.
“EVERYONE CIRCLE UP!” Danny was shouting from the campfire as he fought off two large Bisonmen with their axes.
As one of the monsters charged at me, a loud growl was followed by a ball of fur and claws tackling the creature. Lincoln’s wolf, Shocker, had come to my defense. With the Bisonman on the ground, I fire four shots in quick succession into its skull. The creature died immediately.
I turned my pistols onto another Bisonman, this one attacking Quinton. I fired a [Multi-Shot], watching my six bullets tear into the beast. It staggered as Craig came roaring in with a sword and shield, slaying it.
Flipping to Carlos, I saw him backed into a corner by two of the monsters. Firing [Multi-Shot] again, I could feel my energy draining. I saw a burst of fire hit the beasts as Carlos fought back. Lincoln’s arrows thudded into the attackers and knocked them down enough for Liam to charge in, swinging his Claymore and slaying both. Quinton shot a quick heal spell into Carlos, and I saw him starting to recover.
Danny was now being hammered by three of the monsters, but all six of us were ready. We charged into the beasts. Lincoln and myself did what damage we could from afar as Liam and Craig charged into the fray. Danny was badly injured, but holding his own. Quinton cast a [Prayer of Light] to heal all 7 of us. It was effective. Danny shot his sword through the skull of one of the buffalos before backhanding his shield into another. I fired a headshot into the third and watched it collapse.
At the end of all of it, 8 Bisonmen between Levels 9 and 10 were dead and I had gained another 5% experience and 48 gold. As we looted the bodies, a Ranger item dropped. “Buffalo-Hide Leggings (8C+2 Agi, +1 Str)”. Lincoln had no qualms in immediately handing it to me. “You earned it.”
I equipped them and smiled as my legs began to feel much warmer in the cool January air. “Thanks, Lincoln.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“What the hell happened?” Danny was furious.
Quinton swallowed. “I….I fell asleep.”
I sighed. This type of shit always happens in groups…I think.
Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Double watch from now on. If you see your partner sleeping, wake them up.”
Danny and Carlos had taken a severe beating. The group decided to sleep a few extra hours to recover fully, with a rotating watch. Having Quinton heal them would just mean Quinton needed to recover as well. I volunteered to take the first watch along with Lincoln, and the others went to sleep.
It took an hour for Lincoln to say anything. He just sat there, patting his wolf. When he finally turned and said something, it made me jump. “What did you do before this?”
“Before…the party?”
“No. Before the game.” Lincoln was older. He had tattoos up and down his arms and muscles bulging out of his shirt. I was surprised he hadn’t gone for one of the more physical combat roles.
“I…I was a high school senior. I was mainly just focused on who I was gonna take to prom.”
“Who was it?”
I frowned. I hadn’t thought about that in a long time. Ever since my sister was taken, I had tried my hardest to block out memories of the past. “Some girl named Janet. I had been held back a year but so had she. We both were 18.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died.”
Lincoln nodded silently. The awkward nothingness sat in the air building and building until I finally gave in. “What did you do?”
“I was in prison.”
I raised my eyebrows. “How’d you get out?”
Lincoln smirked. “They pretty much let me out. I was on a transport from Abilene to Dallas. When the bus stopped for gas, that’s when the clock hit six. Bus died. They tried to get it back on…nothing happened. They tried to call for help…no signal. The prisoners were about to take advantage of the situation when we watched one of the guards get speared through by a Goblin. None of us knew what was going on and all of us panicked. Another guard went down trying to kill the thing. Finally, the driver opened the gate to give us a chance to get out, tossing handcuff keys to us. He didn’t last long after that.”
Lincoln stared off into the distance as he continued, reliving the experience. “The group bolted off the bus, trampling each other in doing so. Most of them got chopped down before making it out of the gas station. I was lucky enough to make it to Eastland and…well…here I am.”
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“I thought Danny was the church boy?” I was confused more than anything. Danny was Pastor Gabriel’s son and always had a tendency for a stick up his ass.
“Dan’s a good guy. He took me in and trained me. I always liked dogs and didn’t feel like being a Shifter Class, so he helped me train my Ranger skills to get Shocker. You should trust him a little more than you do. Those Bisonmen were heading for you…the ones he was fighting off. He would have died for you. He’d die for any of us.”
I opened my mouth and closed it a few times. I looked at Danny’s sleeping body and sighed. “Thanks for the information.”
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We made it to Shackleford County by a little after noon on Saturday. The power scaling was evident. As we left Eastland, we found a small trio of Level 7 Gnolls. We dispatched them rapidly. Upon arriving in Shackleford, the air seemed to shift. The grass seemed darker and the sky seemed cloudier. It was as if smog filled the air. “NOW ENTERING: SHACKLEFORD COUNTY (HOSTILE)” appeared in front of us in golden letters as we followed Highway 6. Trees and torn down fences lined the road we were walking on and provided cover for anything that may have been watching us.
Lincoln, who had an ability called Hawk’s Eye, was the first to identify an issue. When he pointed out that some of the trees seemed off, we started to see it. Carlos casted a detection spell only for one of the trees to turn. I immediately saw a profile appear above it.
Treekin - Level 13
“What…the hell?” Craig drew his sword and shield and stepped forward along with Liam. Danny turned to face another tree that had appeared.
As if responding the the weapons being drawn, several trees began to move towards us. They were seven or eight feet in height, twelver or more if you count the leaves that looked like hair. The barked skin covered the trunk-like body from which extended two arms with hands and fingers and many roots that gave the appearance of thick crab legs.
The Treekin surrounded us. At least eight of the creatures ranging from Levels 11 to 13 flanked us. This was a problem.
Danny used his [Holy Shout] to draw the attention of all 8. As they charged him, Liam rushed to the other half of the circle to use Enrage, drawing four of them away. Lincoln drew his bow and began to fire materializing arrow after arrow into the creatures. I drew my pistols and fired my first [Multi-Shot] of the day. Craig fought side by side with Danny whilst Carlos focused his fire on the group around Liam. Carlos was grinning. Danny asked him why and he tried to shout over the roaring sound of the flames. “MY FIRE IS DOING CRITICAL DAMAGE!”
As the group around Danny closed, he raised his shield. Tree arm after tree arm pounded onto the shield. One behind Danny wrapped several long wooden fingers around his torso, only stopping when the hand was removed by a slash of Craig’s blade. I fired several shots into one of the Treekin, watching it stumble backwards. The smell of burning bark filled the air and I was finding it harder to breathe.
Two more continued to harass Danny’s front, taking little damage from his sword. Lincoln’s arrows also seemed to be doing little against them. I fired a bullet with landed directly in one of the creatures eyes, leading to a critical damage hit and the creature recoiling.
Behind me, Liam fought off several others. Carlos’ fire was indeed doing incredible damage. Within seconds, one of Liam’s attackers was a burning husk on the ground. The only issue was that Carlos was growing weary. I fired two shots into one of the trees attacking Liam, leading to another one of the four falling. “CARLOS! HELP DANNY!”
Carlos gave me a nod and ran over to the group. Lincoln’s wolf was clawing and biting at the roots of one of Liam’s attackers, earning encouraging shouts from his owner. “GET IT, SHOCKER!”
Liam landed a furious strike across the face of one of the burning Treekin, watching it tumble and collapse in front of him. The last of Liam’s attacking monsters was slashed to pieces before being shot by both myself and Liam.
As we turned to the other four, I was impressed. Quinton was funneling heals into Danny and Craig as Carlos provided damage. Carlos had popped an endurance potion and began to rain fire on that group as well. Craig landed a killing blow just as Danny did the same. With both heavy fighters handling one monster each, there was little danger left. I fired an bullet into Craig’s attacker, watching it drop dead. Danny thrust his sword into the eye slit of the other, watching fall dead as well. At the conclusion of the encounter, Danny smiled wide. “Rare item. ‘Twisted Bark Shield (10R+7 STR,+25% Resistance against Undead Enemies)’. Y’all know the rules.”
We all opened our rolling menu and rolls a die. Notifications arrived.
“CARLOS J. has rolled a 14!”
“LINCOLN T. has rolled an 8!”
“DAN K. has rolled an 11!”
“CRAIG R. has rolled a 5!”
“LIAM J. has rolled a 7!”
“QUINTON M. has rolled a 13!”
“JEREMIAH L. has rolled an 18!”
Danny shrugged his shoulders and began to trade the shield to me. I shook my head. “I can’t use it.”
Danny cocked his head to the side. “We said we’d roll for rare or higher items.”
“I know. Keep it.”
“What?”
“You and Craig are the only ones who use shields, and you rolled higher. Keep it.”
“Why?”
“Because we need you alive to get me more rare items to win.” I flashed an uncharacteristic smile. Danny seemed suspicious but nodded as he equipped the item. He nodded.
“I feel stronger already. Thank you.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I gestured to the road and smiled. “Less than an hour to Moran, Danny.”
------------------------------------------------
Upon arriving at the border of Moran, the group began to have second doubts. The sky had darkened considerably, although it seemed to be coming from the north-east. As I stepped my first foot into Moran proper, the notification arrived. “NOW ENTERING: MORAN TOWN (HOSTILE).”
Upon checking the map, I had more significant detail on the zone. Shackleford County was Level 11-20, but Moran itself was Level 15-18.
“Danny, it’s Level 15 and above. Carlos and Quinton are Level 10. Craig just hit 11.” I was concerned. This is something I’d stay a mile away from if I was solo.
Danny frowned. “So what do you want to do? Go kill random monsters around here for exp until we level up?”
“That’s exactly what I think we should do.”
Lincoln shook his head. “We need to find quests.”
“Quests?” I was confused.
Danny looked even more confused by my question. “You don’t know about quests?”
“I mean…I know what they are. I haven’t found any though.”
Danny shrugged. “Makes sense, I guess. You don’t go to any high density areas, playing solo. Areas with infrastructure, outside the wildland, have these areas with goals to accomplish and you receive bonus experience and items. Some wildland areas have them too, but not places you’d go. Caves and high-density clearings and such.”
I nodded, thinking back. “I’ve gotten a bounty once or twice. Never found the target though.”
Craig chimed in. “Yeah, a while back we took out a farm quest that had us kill a dozen coyotes. We got a decent chunk of experience for it. Way more than just grinding kills out.”
Danny frowned. “We lost Emma during it too.”
I had always wondered how she died.
Danny looked at me. “They are dangerous, but the rewards are many times what a regular kill would be. Additionally, I’m not sure how many times they come back or how often. We went back to the farm a week later and the quest wasn’t there. It might be first come first served.”
I shook my head. “So you want to stroll into a 15-18 zone to find an extra dangerous goal to accomplish and maybe get more experience out of it?”
Danny shrugged. “Fine. What do you suggest?”
“What we’ve been doing this whole time. Slow and safe.”
“You didn’t seem very safe when the Gnoll was inches from killing you.”
I glared at him. What a bastard. “Fuck you, Dan. I’m going home.” It was a silly thing to walk out on, but I wasn't going to be pushed around. Was I overreacting? Possibly. Would I do it again? Absolutely.
“Wait. Jeremiah!”
I barely heard him as I walked off. If they wanted to die, they were free to do so.
---------------------------
Pistol fire rang out across the field. I had figured wasting a trip all the way to Shackleford was a shame. I’d take out a few Level 11’s and 12’s and go back as a Level 13 or 14. When the Level 13 Ragewood Gnolls first showed up, with their red fur and black eyes, I assumed they were only slightly stronger regular Gnolls. I was very wrong. These Gnolls sent balls of fire towards me, searing flesh and heating the air. My gunfire was doing little. It felt like every Gnoll I killed, two more showed up. It wasn’t until the sound of a horse galloping that I felt a little hope.
The group had surely found a horse and had sent someone to help me. Danny was here to save me from the trouble I had gotten myself in. When I looked over the fallen tree I was hiding behind, I realized it wasn’t Danny at all.
A man with a cop mustache and a big cowboy hat that matched his khaki uniform was stabbing out with a spear at the group of Gnolls. I opened his profile and was surprised.
Graham A. - Level 14 Samurai
This was the first player I had met that wasn’t from Eastland, and he was a badass.
His mount navigated the herd of Gnolls, slicing and slashing left and right. As the bodies dropped, I joined in. Firing bullets and dropped one or two myself, he smiled at me. When the last Gnoll died, a notification appeared to inform me I had reached Level 13. It took only a second before he rode over.
“So what’s my reward?”
“Huh?”
“Is this not a quest? I saved you.”
“I mean…do you want my gold?”
“That’s kinda the point right?”
“Well, you're kind of a dick.” I was surprised at this mans audacity. I wasn’t the nicest guy on the block by any means, but even I wouldn’t immediately ride up for payment after saving someone.
“Wow. You’re a feisty one.” The superior tone in his voice made me want to rip his throat out.
“A feisty one? Fuck you, dude.”
The guy in the cop uniform seemed confused. “Don’t you mean curse you or something? Y'all don't usually cuss. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard y'all cuss.”
“What are you even talking about?”
I watched his eyes open and could see wheels turning in his head. What the hell was he confused about?
“You’re a person?” His eyes went wide.
“I mean…yeah.”
“I mean like a person person. Like from before?”
“Before what? The game?”
His eyes went even wider as he stuck out a hand from atop his horse. “Howdy. I’m Graham.”