“Come with me,” the captain said, distracting me all of a sudden.
I was having a blast watching all three girls try to convince themselves that they didn’t need to breathe. It was harder than it looked apparently. Abigail was the only one making any progress but even she could only hold her breath for five minutes. The other two were down on their hands and knees gasping for air.
“You’re cheating,” Sasha whined. “You’re breathing through your nose, I can tell.”
“Can you give us a minute, Captain?” Nelly asked, walking over to me with a sinister look on her face.
She pinched my nose with two fingers. “Now let’s see how long you last.’
I just rolled my eyes and shrugged at the captain. He didn’t seem to be in too big of a hurry and sat to watch. Sasha made faces to make me lose my concentration. I just smiled which seemed to annoy her.
Abigail let out a gasp. “Damnit! I almost broke my record that time. I can’t help but think I’m suffocating when my health starts going down.”
I gave her a thumbs up.
Nelly, who was still holding my nose, admonished me. “It’s rude to not answer when someone says something to you.”
I held out for several more minutes until Nelly let my nose go. She sighed. “I still don’t understand how you do it.”
“Mind over matter,” I replied. “This is a game, and you don’t need to breathe in a game. It could be that I only figured it out because I was drowning at the time. Maybe you should try that.”
“I will!” Abigail exclaimed while both Sasha and Nelly shook their heads rapidly.
“It’s a stupid skill,” Sasha whined.
“I’ll learn it later,” Nelly swore.
“Are you ready?” The captain asked.
I stood and together we followed the captain up the stairs. A blast of frigid air smacked me in the face the moment I set foot on deck, numbing my nose instantly. It was like we emerged into a different climate than the one we’d just left. Flurries of snow drifted by in the distance around a port that was frosted with snow. I closed my eyes and cited the mantra. “It isn’t cold. The cold doesn’t exist.”
“I get it!” Abigail bellowed. “It’s like that old movie.”
“What?” I asked as I accepted one of the coats a crewman offered.
Abigail beamed with pride. “There is no spoon!”
“Oh!” Sasha gasped. “Do you think it really works that way?”
“It seems to for him,” Abigail replied, pointing at me accusatorially.
“I told you,” I whispered so the captain couldn’t hear us. “It’s just a game. The cold isn’t real. Your brain just thinks it is.”
All three struggled with it again. Abigail, who seemed to be doing better at holding her breath, couldn’t stop her teeth from clacking as she huddled beneath her coat. The captain led us down the gangplank and over to a log building that was heated by a roaring fireplace. The girls rushed over to huddle around it while the captain introduced me to a woman sitting behind a desk.
“Hon, this man killed Captain Morgan,” he announced. “I think he might be able to help with the rest.”
The woman gave me once over. “Am I supposed to be impressed? Is this one of your practical jokes, Captain Ron?”
“Captain Ron, is it? Very well, Vice Admiral Jones. He sunk their ship with some bizarre magic where he threw himself at it like a cannonball,” the captain explained my victory. “He went right through the deck and it sank. We rescued some of the pirates but Morgan wasn’t among them.”
“I see,” Vice Admiral Jones replied, fishing through a stack of papers on her desk. “I suppose he’s here to collect the bounty.”
“Err. yes,” Captain Ron said slowly. “But not only that. I thought it might be a good idea to send these adventurers to Treasure Island.”
“On what ship?” The vice admiral asked, sliding a burlap sack over to me. “Do you intend to take them there?”
You have obtained 50 gold coins!
“I can pilot a ship,” Abigail said as she walked over. “Where are we going?”
“Treasure Island,” I replied with a grin as I tucked the coins safely into my inventory.
“It’s not what it sounds like,” Vice Admiral Jones said in a low voice. “It’s one of the known bases of at least three active pirate crews. Four, if you didn’t manage to take out all of Morgan’s men.”
While I was always down for a quest, I wasn’t sure the others were. Nelly and Sasha were still low-level while Abigail was a fisher.
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“Do you have any combat skills?” I asked.
Her reply would ultimately decide for me.
“I do,” she replied. “If you hadn’t taken out the pirates before they got to us, I would have shown you.”
“Is there a time limit on this quest?” I asked, turning my attention back to the vice admiral.
She shook her head. “Not so long as someone else doesn’t mop them up before you.”
That was good enough for me. “Abigail, we’re headed to Mount Drunder from here. I want to level the girls up some before taking on any big quests. Can I get your contact info so I can message you when we decide to do the quest?”
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Sure but I think I might take a break and go with you guys. You seem fun.”
“Alright!” I said. “Let’s see if the girls are ready go to.”
They weren’t. The pair were split between Nelly wanting to log out for the night and it being too cold to go outside.
“Tether yourself to me,” I instructed. “That way if you log out and I leave, you can come with me.”
Nelly smiled and logged out almost immediately. Sasha remained huddled by the fire.
“It’s so cold,” she whined. “The game isn’t supposed to be painful and I can’t figure out that mind over matter thing.”
“You can always switch to semi-immersion mode,” I suggested. “Then you won’t feel cold at all. At least, not if your house is warm.”
She gaped at me for a moment before smacking herself on the forehead. “Oh, yeah. Right.”
After situating herself, she followed us out the door. Abigail excused herself and headed off toward the dock to fish. I headed toward a row of buildings on the other side of the harbor. The Everfrost port was called Stormbreak and was a lot smaller than Kingsport. It felt more like an outpost than the bustling town we’d come from. It didn’t even have the small-town feel of Homestead.
None of the buildings had signs, so I picked one and tried the door. It was open, so we went in. A pair of dwarves looked up, surprised to see us.
“What do you want?” An old dwarf with sunken eyes and a silver beard asked.
The other, who looked considerably younger, grunted and went back to his work, chiseling away at a block of ice.
“Hi,” I greeted. “We’re new in town and just wanted to meet everybody. Do you sell anything here?”
The old dwarf pointed to a far wall with shimmering white weapons mounted on it. “Take yer pick. But I warn you, they ain’t cheap.”
On closer inspection, the white weapons turned out to be made out of ice.
Ice Sword
Crafted Item
Stats: Attack +20, Str +5, Dex +4, Agi -5, Cha +10
Special: Ice Damage
Level to equip: 20
Price: 3g
I passed several weapons when I saw a spear.
Ice Spear
Crafted Item
Stats: Attack +20, Str +5, Dex +5, Agi +5
Special: Ice Damage
Level to equip: 20
Price: 3g
I hefted the weapon and found it cool but not unpleasant to touch. Sasha watched eagerly.
Her expression fell when she saw the level requirement. “I won’t be able to use that for a long time.”
“That’s not true,” I replied. “Once we get to Mount Drunder, we can find some quests to level you guys up.”
“What level are ye, Lass,” the younger dwarf asked, puffing out his chest as he spoke.
“I’m only level five,” she replied with a frown.
“Hang on,” the dwarf said, running out of the building before either of us could say anything.
The old dwarf rolled his eyes and went back to work on his block of ice.
“How do you make these not melt?” I asked, swinging the spear around a few times.
He grinned, or at least I think he did, beneath his bushy white beard. “Ice Smithing is a specialty of the Frost Dwarves. We infuse our creations with our very souls to make them nigh unbreakable.”
“Can you teach me?” I asked.
He laughed. “Come back when you unlock another class slot. You look like you got your hands full right now.”
The door burst open and the young dwarf came flying through, slightly out of breath. He was holding a wooden spear with a shiny brass head. He held it out to Sasha. “This is a gift for the lovely lady.”
Sasha smiled blandly as she accepted the weapon as she was still in semi-immersion mode and couldn’t show proper emotion.
Chilled Brass Spear
Crafted Item
Stats: Attack +5, Str +1, Dex +1, Sta +1, Agi +1
Special: Ice Damage
Level to equip: 5
“I hope it suits you,” he said in an almost whisper.
Sasha must have chosen that moment to go full immersion because her expression became more genuine. That and she shivered. “Thank you so much!”
The dwarf blushed. “It was nothing.”
“Liar,” the old dwarf spat. “It took you a week to make that spear. Just tell her you like her and be done with it.”
The young dwarf ignored him. “My name is Oforf. I can teach you Ice Smithing if you like.”
“Does it come with fighting abilities?” Sasha asked.
Something told me she wanted to be done with the Pikeman class.
Oforf frowned. “Not really. You do get an affinity for ice-based weapons and armor though.”
“You make ice armor too?” I asked, getting more excited about the class.
The old dwarf pointed to stacks of crates over in the corner. “We got a shipment heading to Celestea tomorrow. You’re welcome to buy what you want but I warn you, it ain’t cheap.”
The crates contained some very interesting armor. For the heavier stuff like plate, it made sense. Plate mail was rigid and so was ice. The cloth and chain, however, were a different story entirely.
Icy Silk Robe
Crafted Item
Stats: Defense +10, Int +10, Wis +10
Special: Heat Resistance
Level to equip: 20
Price: 5g
The silk material was cool to the touch but otherwise felt and moved like normal silk.
Oforf took pity on me and explained. “We start with a normal robe and infuse it with ice. That makes it more durable and gives it the special effect. In this case, it’s just heat resistance but we can also make a high-quality version that makes you flameproof. You’ll find that useful in Mount Drunder.”
I was about to ask for one of those when something caught my eye.
Ice Pick
Crafted Item
Stats: Attack +20, Str +5, Sta +5
Special: Cool Strike
Level to equip: 5
Price: 2g
“Ah!” The old dwarf exclaimed. He’d stopped his chiseling to see what I was doing. “You’re a miner, ain’t ye? That right there will come in handy if you’re serious about mining the heart.”
“The heart?” I asked. The name rang a bell but I wasn’t sure where I’d heard it.
The old dwarf laughed. “It’s a myth or a legend depending on who you ask. They say the ever-burning heart still beats somewhere deep beneath Mount Drunder. Dwarves from all over make the pilgrimage to try and carve it out. Thus far, none has ever seen it let alone taken a swipe at it.”
“Oh, right,” I replied. “Gromnald told me about it.”
“You know ol’ Grom?” The dwarf asked. “Tell him Festus says hi.”
“Tell him yourself,” I replied. “He’s currently in the longhouse on the other side of the harbor.”
“Is he now?” Festus asked, immediately heading for the door. “Guess I’ll have to go pay me respects.”
“Wait!” I said, waving the ice pick in the air. “I’d like to buy this.”
“Take it,” he shot over his shoulder as he raced off faster than I thought possible for a dwarf.
Once Festus was gone, I returned to Oforf who was already back at work on his ice block. “Can you show me how you do that?”