image [https://i.imgur.com/DIHsxJ1.jpg]
Months inside an ice block discombobulated my sense of time. I’d been gone so long that people stopped waiting for my return and got on with their lives.
Hawkhurst’s unchecked growth showed everyone jockeying for better land, economic opportunities, and social positions. After accustoming themselves to months without me, everyone likely needed an adjustment period before I asserted myself into management.
Backtracking from the construction site through the tower, gatehouse, and great hall, I passed no one on my way to my room except Ida and her clerks, who worked on the manor’s ground floor.
Before entering the manor, I checked the mailbox. Fabulosa had opened my last letter, which I sent while fighting the goblins. When I wrote it, I hoped she might swoop in and save the day. Four letters waited for me, all from Fabulosa. The first dated months ago, and I read them in chronological order at the empty meeting table inside the manor.
From Fabulosa, sent 13 weeks, 3 days ago in Minead Postal Box #2
To Apache, received 0 days ago in Hawkhurst Postal Box #1
Subject Greetings from Transylvania
I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. The one-horse towns up here aren’t big enough for mailboxes. As far as killing Rezan, I’m sorry, but I’ve no good ideas. Maybe you and Greenie can make a diplomatic treaty. With all the undead running around, healing spells aren’t problems in the Ragged Hills—they’re the solution. And when they’re not the solution, they’re still my answer.
I’m grinding experience points, but the monsters’ low levels make them not worth the effort. I’m ready to take on other players. The one thing I can say is Windshadow fits the Sleepy Hollow vibe up here. I have a new Goth look.
After some ghost-busting in this gloomy castle called Ul Itor, I wasted over a month with Skullcaps. After so long in Hawkhurst, it felt weird fighting a dwarf avatar. Illusionists are slicker than a slop jar. He lit out to Blyemoore, but I eventually tracked him down.
I’ve had so many little adventures it’s hard to know which one to write about. One was a murder mystery at a fancy dinner party. It was cheesy enough that I could tell it came from a scripted quest, but I had a hoot. Our werewolf host murdered an overnight guest. Everyone knew whodunnit, so the mystery revolved around discovering who unlocked him and led him into the victim’s room. I couldn’t understand the detective’s explanation, but I’ll spoil the ending. The butler did it!
Write soon, Fab
Dated letters had a certain time-travel charm. Revisiting past concerns reminded me how things weren’t always as bad as they seemed. Hindsight could be a comfort.
Fabulosa had written this before the group chat feature unlocked when the game awarded bounties for knocking out opponents from The Book of Dungeons.
The letter’s light tone cheered me up. I’m glad Fabulosa found what she wanted and maybe gladder to hear she wasn’t power-leveling. Chatting broke the world’s immersion, but that was trivial compared to my need to win the grand prize money. The sudden contact with new players reminded me that my ticket to college went through this game.
Fabulosa sent me three more letters, and I opened the second.
From Fabulosa, sent 3 weeks, 2 days ago in Minead Postal Box #2
To Apache, received 0 days ago in Hawkhurst Postal Box #1
Subject Where did you go?
I’m trying not to fret, but you popped in and out of the group chat. The interface says you’re still in the channel. If you can, just pop a quick message to let me know you’re okay. If you need help, let me know where you are. I finished clearing out Ul Itor. It was annoying because the vampire boss ran off whenever I came close to finishing him.
Watch yourself around vampires. They don’t lose levels when they turn, which explains why blood-suckers are so heinous. I mailed Bircht since he seems to know more about this game than anyone else. He says rapid identity transformations crack a core, so players can’t be vampires. Lycanthropy doesn’t break them, but changing your status from living to undead is enough to do it.
I’m thinking we should team up with Bircht and Duchess to knock out Toadkiller before his demon banishes everyone. What do you think?
Fab
It struck me as odd that Bircht volunteered so much information about cores. He candidly answered things in the group chat, too. Secrets of the game’s workings might be something a smart person would keep close to their chest. But some people had egos and couldn’t resist proving themselves. Or maybe he was nice.
Thoughts of alliances gave me a headache. With so many things in the air, I couldn’t juggle the prospects of choosing who to trust. Alliances complicated matters, not simplified them.
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I opened the third letter.
From Fabulosa, sent 3 weeks ago in Minead Postal Box #3
To Apache, received 0 days ago in Hawkhurst Postal Box #1
Subject I’m heading to the coast
It’s good to see you use the chat interface. After weeks in this gloomy wilderness, I’m heading to a town on the eastern coast called Mains. I want some sunshine and find an inn with good food and soft mattresses.
If you square things with the relics, we should partner up again. We’re not the only power couple. Scullcaps left notes about other players in his gear. He thinks Audigger and Toadkiller are in cahoots. The more I think about it, the more linking up with Bircht and Duchess against Toad makes sense.
Honestly, if we can knock out Toadkiller, we’ve got this game in the bag. We’re looking good to be in the final two. Let me know what you’re up to.
Take care, Fab
Fabulosa’s confidence worried me. The game’s social dynamics had proven me wrong in Belden, but that was when we were newbies, and it made sense to stay together. Things would get squirrely close to the wire, and I hated getting this far into the battle royale and getting rubbed out for trusting the wrong player. Grouping up with Bircht and Duchess seemed dubious, and I wasn’t even sure if I could trust the information about Toadkiller was correct.
The last letter came from a new location.
From Fabulosa, sent 2 days ago in Mains Postal Box #1
To Apache, received 0 days ago in Hawkhurst Postal Box #1
Subject Glad to have you back
Can you believe Uproar? It’s a shame I didn’t put him down in Malibar when I had the chance.
Grats on destroying the underwater relic. I just realized the mummies were aquatic, and fighting a level 40-something monster underwater might not be simple. Since that crab tried to drown me, I’ve kept dry. But if you did kill the underwater mummy, whoo-wee. Does that make your third purple core? Should I be worried? Haha. You should make yourself a cape.
As you might have noticed, I’ve moved to Mains. It’s as relaxing as I hoped it would be. I’m so done with grinding undead. The stupid things only give a trickle of experience points.
There are heaps of mercenaries coming from Arweald. They said the orc invasion faltered. I knew you were picking a fight with the emperor to win his relic, so I asked them if they wanted to fight orcs again. They all passed.
It’s funny how armies are different in Miros. They’re not loyal to a king or capital. In Miros, kings hire warlords to send soldiers to war. When I asked about Arlington’s navy, they said navies were different. Armies disappear when you stop paying them, but ships have staying power and provide value during peacetime.
Anyway, I’m enjoying my time. Drop me a line when you get this. Peace, Fab
Fabulosa had sent her last message after we’d talked in group chat. She must have written it as I paddled home.
After a salvo of so many unanswered letters, an immediate response seemed fitting. I wrote her back, catching her up on the town’s losses against Rezan. News of Iris’s baby softened our losses, so I made sure to mention Ian. I told her how Darkstep insisted on spying on Hawkhurst with his relentless Improved Eyes and asked if she’d heard anything about him.
I gave a brief account of my underwater adventure to explain my absence. Instead of lying about losing both relics and cores, I tactfully kept them out of the conversation.
I stepped outside to send the letter and went upstairs. Kicking off my armor and boots, I sprawled out on my bed, indulging in the luxury of not having to share it with Beaker.
I dozed until dinnertime. It wasn’t long enough to clear my Exhausted debuffs, but minor debuffs wouldn’t spoil me from enjoying this strange new town.
Upon waking, I checked the group chat. While the feature didn’t stop time, it obstructed much of my field of vision—too much to keep it open. I couldn’t imagine using it during combat.
HoosierDaddy Check it! We can link item descriptions.
Item
Thunderhead
Rarity
Rare (yellow)
Description
Level 28 shield
+42 armor
Item use—Once per day, owner may activate Thunderclap, an ability that deafens everyone within 30 yards, including owner. Spellcasters without ear protection cannot cast spells for 10 seconds.
Duchess Nice! I knew we could do that through mail, but not the chat.
Bircht I didn’t know linking items worked in mail.
Duchess Yep!
Flagboi Dude, why would you link your own equipment?
HoosierDaddy That’s a very good question.
Duchess Hmm. I smell something fishy.
Pixielite I bet I know what he’s doing.
Audigger What?
Pixielite I’m not telling. You’ll have to figure it out for yourself.
Duchess Double-hmm. Does your shield look epic.
HoosierDaddy It has a cool visual effect. It’s gonna look good on the show.
I mulled over the possibility of hiring mercenaries. Fabulosa mentioned how cities hired warlords to do their fighting. I wouldn’t know where to begin with such an enterprise, but perhaps the soldiers from Fort Krek might know.
I entertained the fantasy of luring the emperor into Hawkhurst and crushing him with a hidden army of hirelings. It seemed a dubious way to win a relic. How could I trust someone not to take it for themselves?
Duchess He’s probably linking that to an NPC’s shield.
Audigger I doubt that. NPCs rarely carry adventuring gear.
Duchess I can’t blame them. If I only got a power point once every three or five levels, I wouldn’t risk it.
Flagboi Wait. Not everyone gets the same number of power points?
Duchess Nope. Players get more powers than the NPCs. That’s what makes us so powerful. A deep elf once explained they draw from a different menu of abilities. Orcs get power points every two levels.
Bircht It explains why NPCs don’t venture into the wilderness.
The discussion explained why I’d not seen as many powers on high-level NPCs. If it were true, it might limit the scope of what a relic-bearing orc may have in battle.
Duchess mentioned different creatures had different menus of spells, but Rezan’s seemed remarkably familiar. Perhaps what distinguished them from mine was a lack of skills or slower acquisition. I hoped it to be as such. If warriors in other regions drew from wildly different options, it would make planning against them unpredictable.
It was a discussion I wanted to have with Yula as soon as possible. If she could give me more insight into what to expect from the emperor, I might formulate a strategy for infiltrating their land and destroying the last relic.