Three days. Three days of walking, slinking, foraging, pretend tracking, unsuccessfully hunting, and playing tag with Night got me back to the Six River Trees. According to the Quest marker on my map that was the name of this area. There were trees, but no river so who can blame me for not enshrining the name in my memory the first time. There was a creek though, so at least there was that for water.

It was sunset, but there was enough light to see that the scavengers had indeed been through the area and enjoyed the gift of Hobgoblin flesh. Scouting around, it looked like even the bones had been cleared out of the area which had alleviated the fragrance since our last visit. The axe was still there, and I still wasn’t really strong enough to do anything about it.

Maybe in a couple months (years?) I could afford to rent time with a traveling trader or learn skills for a mount to figure out something that could turn things like that axe into cold hard cash and delicious sticky buns. The main campfire did look usable with some minor shoring up and the cave entrance somewhat approachable. “What do you want for our next play on this one?” I sent to Night from my crouched concealment in the bushes.

Night started from her grooming and looked up at me. “It’s been a while since I heard that serious tone.”

“We have time Night, and our biggest threat nearly pissed himself laughing at me back at Valen’s. There is zero chance of us fooling Valen with a Legendary skill. Plus she seems very willing to let us Quest however we want by setting us on Freelance Pathing - which is also a remarkable cover. Hope I’m that smart in a few centuries. So, anyway, it’s your call - what do you want to focus on next? “

She looked at me searchingly for a few minutes and I felt her sussing out my mental state through our attunement. Wanting to move forward, I finally smirked and sent reassurance back her way. There was no one here but us that could carry a tale and I could drop my persona and just be myself with her. We should feel any passing scry attempts with the bangle I picked up on the way out of town, and if someone with enough juice actually wanted to know about me they probably already did. Since I wasn’t actively working on the Quest I also didn’t need to worry about the Overseers - Skill building was all automated for the most part.

“That’s better. Make our camp, clear the cave of creatures and tomorrow start leveling what you are calling survival skills. You should start the cleansing in five days. You are seen as mediocre enough to take three times as long as the average Quester. I’ll get dinner when I’m done with my grooming. Oh, and make more potions, we’re nearly out.”

So that’s what I did. Night had been a constant for me since I woke up in this instance soaked through and covered in mud on the side of a river. Once the pounding in my head receded, the black spots - and stupid interface - had cleared from my peepers, and my scratchy throat could make sounds again, she had been the first person I met and greeted. Her name was Nattens Varg and she was my companion for this instance. This was her 17th instance and I was her fifth companion. Apparently 5s were lucky or something. She told me she had been looking for me for three weeks and was thoroughly prepared for me by the time I arrived.

I, on the other hand, didn’t know how many instances I had been through, how many companions I had journeyed with or what my name was. I did know I didn’t sleep great with the nightmares and all and that I had a simmering rage that popped up its head any time I was asked to do things in proscribed ways. I was plagued with random moments of fear that gripped me in a state of freeze stronger than any of Night’s farts triggered my flight response.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Night said we could figure all that out later, and it did feel like these random flare-ups were getting more manageable as we mapped the triggers. So she named me for the sparky shadows she saw in my soul and got me oriented to surviving in this instance without her. Which is just mean, but eh, I truly believe she knows best. She also had me practice calling her Night even though I wanna call her Vargie…which is probably why she insists on Night.

So for the next five days I worked on fishing - and not catching, built some ineffectual traps - one of which I did walk into, yes that is correct, and collected ingredients for minor potions. The potion part went best of all, but I think that’s just because I had more experience in it. Which, you know, Sentient and all that jazz. I was glad my skills couldn't go backwards. Or at least I didn’t think they could.

Importantly, Night and I got some tracking and hunting in together which built up our Synergy. Night informed me that we needed pinnacle companion skills if we were going to survive the instance and move to the next together. The way she said it and looked at me when she did, well it did not encourage argument and also stopped me from asking what happened to her last companion.

Five days into my leveling spree at Six River Trees, where I maybe leveled once, I packed up everything and returned the area to how it had been. I knew the cleansing would make that last part moot, but it still felt like the right thing to do for some reason.

“Stop delaying. Bring it up and let’s get it done,” Night encouraged me.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Clearly not your eyeballs or brain.” I really didn’t like the Interface.

Quest Check: Open Quests…….

Cleansing area incomplete. Cleansing initiated.

Reviewing gains…..

Analyze - Plants - Level 4

Scavenging - Herbs - Level 3

Hunting - Level 2

Fishing - Level 1

Trapping - Level 1

Tracking - Level 1

Bows - Level 2

Alchemy - Level 4

Stealth - Level 2

Synergy - Level 1

Intelligence +1

Endurance +1

Agility + 1

Dexterity +1

Gains applied. Cleansing complete.

Sentient updated. Area ready for reseeding.

Quest Complete. Report to Guide for Logging.

“You get your gains?” I quickly asked Night.

“Yes. As you would know if you looked at my status.” Night was laughing at me again.

Not caring one wit about that I closed out the interface and took a couple of deep breaths. I could feel the gains settle in my brain and body, and while not unpleasant since they were more of an affirmation of the work already done, it also wasn’t comfortable. Growing pains and all that I guess. I smirked at my own joke and glanced at Night.

“Yes, let’s go. You need to work on cartography on the way back. The bark you prepared and the ash sticks should work fine to get you to level 1. It’s a stretch but I think if you can focus you’ll gain the skill by the time you report to Valen.”

“Gotcha. Ok, expect a lot of smudges in your fur and on my face.” Prepared, we set off on the scintillating walk back to Helmsword. At least there weren’t any Red Scary scavengers this time.