Danny and Lincoln walked silently down Highway 6 as they moved quietly back to Eastland. At best, 3 of the 7 fighters from the village would return. At worst, Danny and Lincoln would be all Eastland had to offer. If there was another siege, like before, it could be trouble. God forbid the zone levels change again and Eastland becomes something much more dangerous.
Shocker was wounded and limped along the rode next to them. After another mile or two, Lincoln sighed and bent down to carry the wolf. It graciously clambered into his arms. “You think he made it back, Dan?”
Danny gave a shrug.
“What are we gonna say?” Lincoln seemed nonchalant, but Danny could see the concern on his face.
“What do you mean?” Danny lashed out.
“Calm down. We left with 7 and are coming back with maybe 3, probably 2, people. What are we gonna tell everyone?”
“That the power spike from 10-15 is higher than we thought and we couldn’t handle it.” It was technically true.
“Okay…what do we say if Jeremiah is there?”
“I don’t see how that changes-”
“Because he knew. He was so confident that going in there was bad idea he’d rather-”
“No! He didn’t leave because he’s smarter. He left because he’s a coward. He got scared and he did what he’s always done. He walked away and left us to fend for ourselves. If he hadn't left, we would have won.”
Lincoln disagreed, but there was no way in hell he was going to voice that. “We walking through the night?”
“Yeah…yeah we are.”
Lincoln gave a nod. They’d hit Eastland by sunrise.
----------------------------------------
“I’m Jeremiah.” I eyed the Rabbitfolk chief cautiously. I had yet to meet a friendly NPC and this seemed a little to good to be true. Despite this, Graham seemed fully trusting and as at home as one could be.
“Good! Good name! Jeremiah. Sounds almost royal. Are you a royal human?”
I looked down at my boots caked in dirt and my torn clothing. “Uhm…no.”
“Ah, still good to be of your acquaintance. Are you here to help Mister Graham defeat Choctog?”
“Choctog?”
Graham spoke up. “Choctog the Plainsbreaker. From what I can gather it is the Elite monster at the bottom of the dungeon.”
“Dungeon?”
“The…Jesus, I thought I was the one who was out of the loop. Dungeons? Ya know, like in every other game?”
I shrugged. He had a point and it’s not like I was on top of things. Graham obviously had an angle on things that I didn't. I knew a lot of stuff he didn't. It was good we met up. The Rabbitfolk chieftain in front of me made that quite clear. “Okay. So there's a dungeon. Where is it and what is it?”
“The Shattered Mines. I think it used to be some mining operation on the west side of Shackleford County. I visited the entrance once, but even before the level shift the two guards at the gates were Level 12. At the time, I was Level 11. Since then, I’ve just been doing the little quests that pop up every now and again around the village.”
“Are there no other players in Shackleford? This county had like….what…3,000 people?”
Graham's face darkened for a second before lightening back to normal. “Something like that. My guess now is that anyone who was here went to Abilene or Dallas. Before today, I figured I was the only one left. I thought it was possible there were others, but too few and far to find.”
“Eastland has a community of 32.”
“32? People? That many survived there?”
“Eh. You’d be surprised. Not that many have chosen to fight. Many have chosen to farm or craft or do other supporting roles. There were only 7 fighters out of the 32.”
Graham raised his eyebrows. “Seems like a waste.”
“I’d tend to agree, but someone needs to make food.”
“Yeah…I thought that’s what the friendly NPCs were for. I thought my mission was to fight and their goal was to help me.”
“Mission?”
“From God.”
“God?” I knew this part of the country was deeply religious, but it boggled my mind how someone could believe this was God’s work after everything we had been through. Ever since the Red Liberty took my sister, I had an unnecessary bone to pick with the religious. I kept my calm, figuring now wasn’t the time.
“Well, of course. Who else would have the power to do this?”
It reminded me of Ms. Heppert from Eastland. She had taken work as a tailor to help the town, even before the start of all of this, and always said that that’s what God wanted her to do. “I see.”
Graham seemed to let the subject drop. “So what are your goals, Jeremiah?”
“Goals?”
“For the world.”
“Same as you I suppose. I want to get stronger. I figure that’s the goal right? If humanity can produce max-level fighters, we can clear the planet of all these monsters. Or, at the very least, we can establish safe zones. We can restart society.”
Graham smiled. “I think there’s an aspect you aren’t utilizing.”
“Hm?”
Graham turned to Chief Cassil with a grin. “Chief, with your leave, I’d like to show our Ranger to Foreman Cloudtail.”
Cassil smiled wide. “Squire! Fetch my walking stick. I’ll accompany you.”
I watched as one of the younger looking Rabbitfolk moved to grab a long staff. The young rabbit handed it to Cassil. “Here, sir.”
“Thank you.” The Chief gave a smile and stepped down from his throne.
As the trio left the large structure, two Rabbitfolk in leather armor with spears followed behind. Graham smiled at me. “Do you like them?”
“Who? The rabbits?”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Yeah, the guards.”
“Oh. I mean, they’re cool I guess.”
“I earned them.”
“Huh?”
“I spawned them.” Graham gave a grin.
“How?”
“Quest Rewards aren’t just extra XP or gold. In fact, in about half of them, the rewards are not directly related to you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“There was a quest a few weeks after I got here. Four quests, actually. It was called: ‘Protecting the Village: Part 1’ and of course, after completing it, I got parts 2, 3, and 4.”
I started to follow what he was saying. “What were the objectives?”
“Kill some boars for leather, gather logs for fences, bring metal to a weaponry, and recover 4 Rabbitfolk from a Kobold camp. After that, the four rabbits came back and joined two at the village. Now there are six guard-rabbits for Harehill. I’ve found lots of projects around the village with goals and rewards that are similar. Small improvements, Jeremiah. I think that’s how we win this game.”
We walked for a while until reaching the north end of the village. Several structures were being constructed. I noticed all of the buildings had profiles. “Armor Shop: 25% Complete”, “Stables: 25% Complete”, and “Healer’s Office: 25% Complete” were visible. “Is this what I think it is?”
“If your thinking it’s a bunch of quest chains, you’re right. There’s a ton of these. Takes a long time to do, but mostly just tedious. You see why I said 32 people doing farming seems like a waste? There’s so much work to be done.”
Chief Cassil’s ears flickered. “32 humans? Why, that’s nearly as many rabbits as we have! Imagine what we would be able to do!”
Graham gave a smile. “I tend to agree. Jeremiah, why don’t we go to Eastland and bring them here?”
I frowned. “Not sure that would work well. I don’t exactly have the pull I’d need to-”
“There’s a quest to build a wall. I’m assuming quests to upgrade it after that. Hell, I haven’t done it yet, but there’s messenger quests.”
“Like quests to other…” I trailed off as Graham simply smiled and nodded.
“Jeremiah, we can build something here. I was wondering if I was going to be able to do it by myself. Now, I know I don’t have to.”
I nodded. Graham seemed a bit odd, but being surrounded by rabbits for 3 months without people would probably do that to a person. He seemed to have good intentions and this place seemed to have potential. In Eastland, people were spending 1,000-5,000 gold to re-purchase their own homes. People were fighting to get some semblance of what they used to have back. Here, we could build something new. Hell, even if no one from Eastland wanted to come here, I’d enjoy it here. “I’ll go to Eastland and talk to them about it.”
“Thank you. I’ll go as well. Maybe they’ll like a new face?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
--------------------------
Graham, a rabbit guardsman named Tallop, and myself rode into Eastland on Monday. I had spent what time I had over the weekend learning the systems that Graham had learned whilst teaching him what I knew. The three of us were met with very odd looks as we entered the town. Someone had seen us a bit farther out and, by the time we arrived in the town, Mayor Woodford was waiting for us. “Jeremiah?”
I smiled. “In the flesh.” I hopped down from the horse and shook his outstretched hand.
“Who is this?”
“This is Sheriff Graham, and Guard-rabbit Tallop.”
The mayor blinked. “Guard-rabbit?”
“We have a lot to talk about. Maybe we should have a town meeting?”
“Maybe we should.”
It didn’t take long at all for myself and 27 other Eastlandites to gather in the rec center with Graham and Tallop. Myself, the Mayor, Pastor Gabriel, Graham, and Tallop were all on a makeshift stage in front of the small crowd. I cocked my head to the side as I saw Danny and Lincoln sitting in the back of the group. “Where’s-”
The mayor cut me off. “Sad tale. I’d leave it as is for now. Tell us what you have to say.”
I nodded and stood in front of the small group. “For the past 3 months, we’ve been watching people die. It didn’t take us too long to secure this place. We’ve sheltered those who don’t want t fight and allowed those who do want to fight to advance. We’ve made progress, but that progress has been slow.”
Danny was glaring at me from across the room. He was angry at me for something. What happened to the group? I cleared my throat and kept going. “On my way back from Moran, I met Sheriff Graham here. He worked in Albany at the start of the game. Albany was not nearly as lucky as us. From what I understand, the town has been turned into a dungeon.”
There was some muttering in the crowd. “Yeah. It turns out we only had half the story. We saw the wild creatures, some bonus objectives, and the leveling system. We didn’t know what to do with it so we had our own ideas. ‘Go kill some wild creatures to level up to kill more.’ We had the idea of starting our own farms and shops to make life better here. What we didn’t know was that the game had more mechanics than we thought. Tallop here is an example of that. He is not hostile, and he is actually quite friendly. He is part of a race of friendly creatures called Rabbitfolk. The Rabbitfolk have villages at least across Texas. My talks with them indicate that there may be much more than that. They mention monsters and species that I’ve never heard of.”
“We’ve been so scared to leave Eastland for so long that we are entirely out of the loop. Harehill Village, where Tallop here is from, has quests to complete. These quests lead to the creation of new buildings, new gear, new paths. There is so much more out there than this. I hope you all will come with me in building up Harehill to make a new home for all of us in our new lives. I really do.”
Pastor Gabriel and Mayor Woodford gave each other a few looks. “Why would we do this, again?”
“To progress further. We can make more progress and faster than ever if we have more people working in this village.”
“So you want us to work for rabbits?”
“No…I want you to work with the rabbits. This is extraordinary. You don’t see that? We can improve.”
Graham saw the way this was going and stayed silent. The Q&A lasted for almost two hours. Danny and Lincoln never said a word, but every other townsperson had their say. The answer was a resounding no. They wanted to stay in their homes. I felt like I was going crazy, but I bit my tongue and nodded. “If you all want to stay here and wait for something to break past your defences, that is your choice.”
Lincoln whispered something to Danny, but the two remained mostly motionless.
Mayor Woodford put on a smile. “This is our home, Jeremiah. You are always welcome here, but I don’t think anyone has an interest in leaving.”
I stood up, bit my tongue, and the three of us walked out. It would take a few hours to get back to Harehill, but we’d make it before nightfall. As we got to our horses, I heard someone calling for me. “Jeremiah! Wait!”
I turned to see Liam’s younger brother Nick running towards me. Nick was 16 or 17, but had no parents. Liam had been taking care of him. “What?” I really wasn't interested in being rejected again. I was angry enough at the situation.
Nick was short, wore glasses, and was a Level 3. His only experience had come from cooking. Liam had forbade him from fighting outside Eastland until he was 18. “I want to come.”
Before I could respond, Danny rounded the corner and headed towards me. “Absolutely not, Nick.”
Nick turned on Danny, a tinge of fear mixed with the defiance in his eyes. “Why not?”
“You know your brother would want you to stay.”
“My brother’s dead.”
Danny’s face grew dark. I was pretty sure that was the case already, but now my suspicions were confirmed. Danny put a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Yes. Because he went to far outside the town.”
“My brother was strong. He was the same level as you and now he’s dead. Jeremiah says we can level up quicker at Harehill. I want to go with him. I am going with him.”
Danny’s face contorted in frustration. “Jeremiah is the reason your brother is dead.”
I scoffed. “What?”
“You heard me. If you hadn’t left-”
“I told you not to go in there.”
Lincoln stepped forward, putting a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “C’mon man, let’s-”
“No! Get off me.” Danny pushed Lincoln back and squared his body to me. “How dare you? If you hadn’t left we would have won!”
“You lost four men because you wouldn’t listen to me, Dan.”
“Fuck you, Jeremiah.” He swung at me. I ducked the blow and kicked his legs out from under him. He had a much higher strength stat than me, but I was faster. Dan hit the ground before drawing his sword and standing back up. “You’re gonna regret that.”
Graham drew his samurai’s sword and put it between me and Dan. “Sorry, friend. Not today, he isn’t. Jeremiah, is the kid coming with us?”
Nick looked at me with a nod. I turned to Graham. “Yeah, he is.”
“Okay then. Kid, get on the horse.”
Nick clambered onto the horse behind Graham. Tallop’s ears flickered in the silence. I got onto my own horse as Danny glared at Graham. He knew fighting Graham was a losing battle. Graham sheathed his sword on his back and we began to ride for Harehill.