The trio had managed to move through the south side of Portland without running into any more people, only having to fight in an instance three times before they reached the outskirts of the city. It took them two full days as they had taken it slow to avoid anything they could, and the fighting they had done had unfortunately yielded no stat changes, but it did give them experience they knew they needed. Cade guessed that as they progressed in rank, it became harder to advance, akin to gaining experience in most games he had played in his earlier life. They would need to find stronger monsters to rank up, but that meant more danger, so the balance was tough to safely figure out.

Cade was getting used to the new world, Brandon and King right there with him. They woke up on the morning of their third day, Home Stone light dissipating into Brandon’s inventory as they left the small home they had holed up in for the night. They were at the very edge of the city, planning to move south towards Eugene. I-5 was going to be a lonely and long road, but they were hoping to find some type of transportation as they went.

Cade yawned as they started walking along I-5 early in the cold morning light. It was a couple hours of silence before anyone said anything aloud. They had decided to take shifts on watch, the others checking out the Guidebook or whatever else they wanted to whilst they walked. Cade had opted to dig back into the shop, Brandon on watch this shift. It had taken them a while to get used to walking without tripping or veering off course, but their new stats and improved physicality lent them abilities they now had started to take for granted. Sometime in the last day or so King had read a Guidebook entry announcing the writer had found hidden parts of the shop that were only available with the correct mental prompts. The only catch was; the form of currency used to purchase these “hidden” items were the Void Hearts that they had received from several of their fights. Cade was now trying to find new mental commands that could bring up items that were not available before. So far, they had discovered that there were other weapons that could be purchased, such as wands, scepters, and other mana-boosting items. They had found some absurd consumables as well, finding cloaking potions similar to the effect of Brandon’s cloak, as well as a variety of others that gave them so many potential options.

It had probably been about an hour into Cade’s mindless walking when he had the presence of mind to search for a mode of transportation. He chided himself for not thinking of it earlier, as it would have made their journey out of town and the morning of walking down the interstate much easier. Starting with the broad push of “transportation,” he was surprised when it came up so easily. A list of several options were available to them.

Transportation:

* Gravity Resonance Artificial Vehicle (G.R.A.V.)

* Single Passenger

* Not usable within Instance.

* COST: 5 Void Hearts

* Grav Core Movement Vehicle (G.C.M.V)

* Dual Passenger

* Capable of being used within Instance.

* COST: 15 Void Hearts

* Gravity Resonance Integrated Personnel Shuttle

* Four Passenger Capacity

* Capable of being used within Instance.

* COST: 25 Void Hearts

Cade stopped walking and whistled, getting the attention of his companions. “Hey guys. I just found something I think will be really useful.”

Brandon had stopped walking but was scanning their surroundings, which Cade knew was probably the right move. King had moved closer and was waiting on Cade, eyebrow raised, arms crossed in front of him.

“How many Void Hearts do you guys have?” Cade had three of his own, and guessed Brandon had as many.

“I have 6 of my own.” King held his out, the small black shapes appearing in his outstretched hand. “Why, what are you thinking?”

“I’ve got 3, you want them?” Brandon also responded.

“Well, you know how we have been searching for hidden Void Market options? I had the brilliant idea to search for transportation, and there are a few options. Single passenger, two pass, or something to hold all four people in a party. Check it out, search for “Gravity Resonance Integrated Personnel Shuttle.” Cade waited for them to pull it up in their Markets, knowing they would probably also try to check out the other options.

“It costs quite a bit, but I think if we can farm some instances, we should be able to rack up a bunch of hearts. Maybe we can even find one of those hives you were reading about, King. I think the more we can kill, the higher the chances of getting some more Hearts.”

“That… would make this journey a lot easier. Looks like we only have 12, but that’s not awful. Maybe we should leave the interstate and look for something to fight?” Brandon agreeing made the decision a whole lot easier for the group. If all three of them were of the same mind, Cade figured nobody would care about what the Hearts were spent on.

“Yeah, sounds good. Let’s go, but we should probably enter the woods battle ready, ya know? I can lead, but may need to switch vanguard out with you Cade, just cause my shield is kind of hard to maneuver with.” King raised a good point. Fighting in the woods would be a lot different than fighting in the city had been. Cade wondered what an instance would look like, but pondering wouldn’t help for now.

“Alright, following you. Let’s get some hearts!” Cade said excitedly. They left the interstate and started walking East, entering the sparse trees hemming in the road, King leading with his shield and gauntlet at the ready, Cade following behind him closely, weapons also at the ready. Brandon was about 15 feet south of them, cloaked but tangibly visible to the party. They slowly pushed into the woods, the trees and bushes becoming denser and denser as they went. It wasn’t long before Brandon sent a message to them, deciding to speak silently rather than giving their presence away.

[Monster ahead. Looks like a couple of deer. One male, with some nasty antlers, and one without. Both are at least the size of a car though. Gameplan?]

[Preemptive hit from you on whichever you think we should target first, I’ll try to get a simultaneous hit with my Chain Flare immediately following.] Cade typed out.

[Agreed. Whenever you want, Crow.] King sent in response.

Cade and King crept slowly forward, able to see Brandon’s silhouette creep up behind the larger deer with antlers. King had put his shield away, knowing that he would likely make more sound and draw the deer to them, but as he stepped over a fallen tree, his shoelace caught and he fell forward. Cade reached out to catch him, but was unable to keep him from crunching down on the undergrowth that covered most of the forest. The crunch wasn’t much, but Cade knew that even before the arrival of the Void creatures that regular deer were extremely sensitive as prey creatures. The antlered deer was massive, literally the length of a sedan, and probably nine feet tall, not including its antlers. Those were something else - pitch black, and as it raised its head from the grass beneath it, the blackness seemed to change, almost like the antlers had a portal within them.

The deers ears were moving rapidly, searching for the disturbance King had made, its eyes stock still as it listened. A crooning noise rang out as it opened its mouth. Stamping the ground underneath it with massive hoofs, it turned in place, searching for them. Cade saw Brandon pause behind a tree just a few feet from it. The smaller deer moved closer to the antlered one, and they turned together towards where Cade and King were still as statues, trying to not even breathe.

Brandon must have chosen this timing to strike, and Cade and King watched as he leapt forward towards the larger deer, blades sinking into the sides of its massive neck as he sheared downward. Blood poured from the strike, both blades obviously empowered by a Paralyzing Strike as the deer fell forward, unmoving. Cade and King had stood and rushed forward as he struck, wanting to ensure they were pulled into the instance with Brandon. The world flashed and they appeared in a forest of infinitely high trees, stretching so high above them they were unable to even see the tops. Sunlight still fell between them, which was strange to Cade, but instances definitely followed their own physical laws, no doubt about that.

Cade and King were close by; Brandon a dozen or so feet away, normal for what they had seen of preemptive strikes. The two deer were together 30 or so feet away, but the antlered deer was already getting to its feet. The blood had stopped pouring from its neck, and Cade didn’t understand until he noticed the smaller one. Druidic Doe appeared over the creature, a strange light pouring out from its eyes. The light was the same tone as the void that was present on the antlers of its companion, but it was almost like a fluid as it left its eyes and flew into the wounds that Brandon had dealt earlier. The larger deer began to change in front of their eyes; standing up on its hind legs, its body morphed into a humanoid creature, antlers still present atop its head. A health bar appeared above them both and a name appeared overhead. Forlorn Servant - Tenebral Stag.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Shit, this is like the fight with that bee man. This thing is going to be much stronger, and it has a friend that can heal too. We need to focus on that healer. King, not sure if you’ve fought one of these yet, but one of these Forlorn Servants almost killed us before.” Cade had started to maneuver himself over to between where Brandon and King were. He figured he could probably help protect Brandon, and King had his ability to get to them if necessary.

“Lets get it. Druid Doe first, careful of the other ones' antlers. Something seems off about them.” Brandon drew his longbow, daggers disappearing as he knocked an arrow. Cade lowered his blade to the ground and commanded his Chain Flare to turn his sword into a ranged weapon. Brandon had the right idea with trying to keep these things at a distance. Cade had let his eyes wander to his friends for a moment, but apparently the Servant was smart enough to take advantage of it, springing forward towards Cade. A single bound from the Stag had it angling its massive antlers downward towards him, coming at him from above like a missile. Cade managed to barely get out of the way, antlers scraping with a nails-on-chalkboard screech as they passed over the face of his shield. He struck out with his chain sword wildly, but the Stag didn’t even try to dodge. It brought its antlers down and intercepted the miniature blades, catching and tangling them in its void colored protrusions. It swung its head backwards, jumping as it did, and Cade was unable to hold onto his blade. It flew out of his hand and started to change back into a sword, landing as the plain gladius blade fifty feet past the Stag. Cade growled and bared his teeth. He summoned up the Ka-Bar from his inventory and took up a defensive stance.

Brandon

Brandon and King had immediately gone after the Doe, leaving Cade to distract the Stag. Brandon knew he could handle it, and he knew King was going to be keeping an eye on him. That ability of his had saved both of them several times over in the last few days. It had taken quite a while for him to lower his guard around him, but he felt like he trusted King to watch their backs now. King was watching Cade and angling himself to trap the Doe from getting to the Stag. It was a dangerous gambit and Brandon understood that he was putting his back to the more dangerous creature. Firing his longbow, he watched as the Doe teleported, or at least instantaneously moved out of the way to the right. He nocked and fired another arrow at it, watching as it did the same thing. King had charged it from the side, launching the bladed end of his shield towards the Doe as he got into its range. The Doe moved faster than he could fully catch up to with his eyes, appearing behind King as if his attack had been in slow motion. “King, it's a speedster. We are going to have to pin it down somehow to hurt it.” Brandon knew he was going to have to come up with a plan, but wasn’t entirely sure what to go with. They didn’t have a ton of room to maneuver in this wooded area.

“Yeah, let me know if you think of something. I think if we can hit it it’ll probably be weak. Doesn’t look like it can take much of a hit.” King responded, once again trying to close in on the Doe with his shield. It dodged backwards, almost imperceptibly, staring at them with dark eyes. Brandon stole a look towards Cade and the Stag, seeing it swing its arms into Cade’s shield. It knocked Cade aside as he lashed out with the dagger, drawing blood. The Doe appeared next to the Stag, darkness streaming from its eyes as it healed the cut on the Stags arm. “God damn, I can’t hurt this thing enough to hinder it at all.” Cade yelled out at them. He backed off a little from the Stag, trying to gain some distance and get the two away from each other again. Brandon fired off another arrow and this time the Doe dodged, but the shaft penetrated the shoulder of the Stag. The Stag crooned in pain and tried to pull the shaft from itself, but couldn’t reach it. It bellowed again and turned to Brandon, eyes narrowing as it looked at him. It bared down on the ground, all four limbs touching as it seemed like it was about to jump towards him. Brandon moved behind King, but the Stag didn’t have the chance to jump as Cade’s segmented blades dug into and wrapped around its midsection. He saw Cade pull on the sword, using his shield as leverage to pull the Stag off its feet. It fell backwards, landing hard on its back, antlers carving furrows in the ground as it hit.

“King, Dash Defend on me, NOW!” Brandon shouted as loud as he could. In the maelstrom of the fight, Brandon had seen an opportunity. He had stealthed himself, the Doe busy watching the other fight, its attention taken off of him. Positioning himself behind the Doe, with it between himself and King, he took his knives out as the as his plan had formed in his head.

“DASH.” He heard King shout and also heard the air around him shatter, as both the Doe and himself were knocked from their feet. Brandon had been launched backwards, bent in half around the body of the Doe as it blew towards him, impacted by King's shield. They both flew through the air, Brandon colliding with a tree, his body ragdolling sideways as he hit the ground. The Doe was broken, several feet from him, as he stood to his feet. He could feel broken ribs and what felt like a broken clavicle on his right side.

“Brandon, you alright?” King was running over towards him, but stopped at the Doe’s body as he saw Brandon standing to his feet.

Shit that shield hits hard. We are going to have to use that way more often. Brandon thought as he steadied himself. He brought an elixir from his inventory and choked it down.

“Yeah, beat up a little bit, but nice job with the assist there.” He yelled back. King had raised his shield above the Doe, slamming it down blade first into the neck, severing it completely. The Doe lay still, but Brandon had to cover his ears as a new noise blasted out over the forest. The Stag obviously did not like that its partner was dead, and the sound it had produced had given them all a debuff. Underneath his and his party members' names, Debuff: Unloved of The Forest appeared.

“Let’s go join Cade and try to kill this big bastard.” The elixir had done its job, he was still incredibly sore but his bones were mending nicely.

“On you, I’m following.” Brandon took off, running towards where Cade was still engaged with the Stag. King was right behind him, and they watched as Cade was knocked around by massive fists, his shield taking the hits, but they could tell his strength was fading quickly. The Stag had a buff below its own name, the opposite of the debuff they had all received. Buff: Chosen of The Forest showed clearly, the Stag empowered in some way as it battered at Cade’s shield. Its skin was steaming, almost like it was in overdrive mode.

“King, get in there and take the heat off Cade. He needs to back off and take an elixir.” Brandon watched as King positioned himself to intercept the swinging fists as he said “Dash,” appearing directly in front of Cade to take the brunt of the hits. Cade dropped to one knee, breathing heavily, his shield hitting the ground before he pulled it into his inventory. An elixir materialized and he shakily drank it.

“Thanks.” Cade said to King as he rolled away. Brandon had entered his stealth, intending to sneak around the back of the Stag. He started to run towards the back of the Stag, knives in hand, but as he jumped - intending to land near the neck of the beast, it turned towards him and batted him aside with a fist. He was able to get his arms up enough to keep it from smashing his face in, but he was still knocked to the ground hard. He sat up and struggled to breathe, the wind knocked completely from him. He could feel the elixir still working, thankful he was still under its effects. He jumped to his feet, rolling backwards away from the monster.

“Sneak attacks don’t work on it. Must be the Chosen of The Forest buff it has. That or whatever we have going on.” Brandon shouted out to the other two as his voice came back. “Let’s engage it together. Wear it down.”

Cade looked towards him, nodding, his Chain Flare spreading out behind him as he lashed his sword out. King had backed towards them, taking hits to his massive shield with no real damage. Brandon applied a Paralyzing Strike to his blades, his mana bottoming out as he used it. Brandon and Cade spread out to mirror King, three sides facing the massive monster in front of them. Cade lashed out with his long blade, the individual pieces slicing through the air towards the Stag. It lifted one arm without even looking towards it, almost though it knew it was coming, and knocked the blade aside. It snapped its right leg towards him, Cade catching it on his shield, guiding the momentum away from him. Brandon lunged forward as its attention was taken, but as his blade neared the hip of the creature, it jumped upwards off of one leg. It dodged the strike and landed, charging at King this time as it through its entire body weight into his shield.

“It has some kind of raised perception, it just blindly dodged my hit. Keep going, maybe we can overwhelm it!” Brandon shouted to his friends.

King recovered, bringing his shield around in a sidelong swipe, the bladed edge catching on the antlers that had been lowered to block. His shield bounced off of them, but strangely enough didn’t make a sound, almost like he had struck in complete silence. The Stag had lowered its head down more, bellowing as it spun rapidly in place, antlers dangerously turning into a spinning mass of black. King was knocked onto his back, his shield clanging heavily to his side. Cade had managed to jump back for the most part, getting hit midair as he lunged backwards. Brandon was the last in line to get hit by the creature, stepping back from it faster than his companions. He saw Cade swing his blade towards the head of the creature, managing to tangle it in the antlers as it spun. He dug in his feet and leaned back, his shield disappearing as he gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands. The Stag had managed to tangle itself up, and Cade hauled on it, managing to pull the head of the creature back at an angle. Brandon took advantage of this, using his new stats to quickly jump in, daggers reaching in and out of the creature's back as it struggled to its feet. It bellowed again, but Brandon had stabbed it several times, Paralyzing Strike having an effect as it was unable to do more than twitch. Its health had dropped to about half after his attack, and he saw King raise his shield, screaming as he cleaved it downwards into the side of the head of the Stag. The blade on the side of his shield cutting all the way down into the skull of their enemy, the weight of the shield and King’s strength behind it, crushing the head of the monster entirely. The world flashed as they appeared back in the demi-clearing they had started from.

Brandon dropped to his knees, breathing heavily as his heartbeat echoed loudly in his ears. Cade had stowed his sword, flopping onto his back and he tried to get his breathing under wraps. King had stood up, leaning on his shield with both arms - doing his best to steady himself after that long fight.