Once I made it upstairs, I saw Asiel, Orian, and Ronkel playing cards. Orian asked me, “Good morning. Would you like to join us? We are playing Straight Face.”
Coincidence? Probably not.
“Morning. Did Rahun tell you I should play it more often as a step toward mind shielding?”
“Basically, yes,” Asiel answered. “He told us all the students should strive to get good at it and improve their Deception as an initial step for lessons he and Dorra will be holding. So here we are. I’ll warn you, Ronkel is already at Rank S. Orian and I are at B.”
“I would have thought in over two thousand years, most of your skills would be Rank S”
Asiel continued, “It is useful for people to think that, and for some Skolturi Wraiths it is true. They are driven to complete and maximize everything. Most of us are more relaxed about ranking, but even so, 2000 years will tend to rank you very highly in many things, and we all have numerous S-ranked skills. Deception wasn’t a priority for those who lived on the Continent of the Skolturi, because there was very little reason to try to conceal anything.”
“In answer to your question, sure, I’ll play, thank you. At my Rank E Deception I’ll probably get slaughtered, though.”
Ronkel replied with a smile, “Death should be a good teacher for an immortal.”
The game was reminiscent of 5-card stud Poker. I was given some chips up front, but I didn’t have much faith I would hold onto them for very many hands. Much like Poker, the real game of Straight Face is only 33% in the cards. Probably 50% is psychological – playing with people’s heads, and them playing with yours – and the rest is your betting pool, chips in this case.
Within an hour it was clear I sucked at psychology, and I didn’t have a meaningful pool of chips to be able to continue. Interface assured me I was gaining Deception RP at a decent rate, though, and that was the point.
As I acknowledged being busted, Ronkel told me, “Your gang should be here soon to bring you to town for breakfast. They have plans for your second Ninthday.”
Wow, that’s right. I’ve had a Tuesday on every day of the week now. This is sort of an anniversary, but I don’t know what to call it.
On cue there was a knock at the door and Orian bid them enter. Only Arrjee did so, however, and he just barely came inside. “Good morning everyone. Are you ready, brother? We’ve got a lot to do today, so we should get started.”
It was barely 5, and dawn had just grouchily begun to be felt. The others acknowledged him, as did I. “Good morning, Arrjee. Yes, I guess I’m ready, but I don’t know what I’m ready for.”
He smiled. “You’ll figure it out. Let’s go.” After bidding the wraiths farewell, I followed him out the door. I was surprised nobody else was waiting outside. I’m sure Arrjee realized I was curious about their absence. “Everyone else is waiting.”
I started following him toward the gate leading off campus. “Is it alright if we stop at the stables for a minute so I can wish Swagger a good morning?”
“It would be if he were there. He’s with Mom and everyone, and we are heading there now.” I asked who ‘everyone’ was. “You’ll see in a few minutes.”
Past the gate, we began a moderate run, heading down the road away from Cottages and also in the opposite direction where my original spawn point was. I was confused and told Arrjee that Ronkel told me we would be having breakfast in town. “That was the original plan, but Dad suggested we begin the day with an outdoor meal.”
“Can you at least give me a clue what is going on?” He told me to look at my map. I did. Onre and I had run about a mile past town on my third Tuesday, Everything past that except the orchard was fog. I reported what I saw to Arrjee.
“There is your clue.”
“Fog?”
With a congenial laugh, “Yes.” We kept up our steady pace. After a couple of minutes, we took the road toward the orchard. Soon we ran past where Lord Rose & Co. had accosted me. I told Arrjee that it was where my encounter took place. “I’m really glad you weren’t hurt or killed here.”
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At about 5:15 I saw the rest of my friends and family. They were in a meadow outside the orchard and farmland and had set up a campfire. Arrjee told me they were making breakfast. Our whole party was there – Onre, Kossa, Sun, Ferret, and Swagger – as well as Mom, Carrie, and for some reason our young friend Norrus Loruste.
Hell, for all I know, he’s the reason we’re all here.
That is possible. The presence of Swagger and seven other horses is indicative of a journey.
They greeted us as we approached. Mom said, “Have a seat, boys. Breakfast is about ready. We’re having fried pork chops, fried bread, tomato jam, and peaches.” I wasn’t near hungry yet, but I still looked forward to trying the bread and tomato jam. I’m glad we had some peaches and hoped they had gotten some for Swagger and the other horses.
Carrie and Norrus were dressed in pants and pullover shirts, while everyone else had light armor. At some point, Sun probably had Norrus’ Mom craft them a tripedal set of leather armor. Arrjee and I arrived in loincloths and sandals, but Mom took out our leather armor from her saddle bags. Carrie handed us our boots from what I assumed were her saddle bags.
As we changed, Swagger invited Arrjee and I to join a party. We joined, and everyone else was already in it.
Someone seems excited.
S: Good morning, wolves. Forrest, I have been training a lot! Everyone is helping me learn. Lenyet is spending time with me teaching me what most sapient children learn, like numbers and world. My level is 19 + 10,868/35,197. I didn’t even understand what that meant when I told you last Tuesday. Anyway, my SP Regen is still at Rank C. Analyze and HP Regen have joined it! Ki Regen, Meditate, and Dark Sight are at D. Onre and I learned Make Water together. Mine is at E.
OL: Mine is still at F, showoff.
S: Not really; I just have more time to focus on training than you do. Sentient horses typically live very boring lives. Now that I am sapient, I want to experience it all! And I have also learned Tactics and Visualization and Kicking & Stomping. It was like I already knew that last one. And Ronkel taught me Infertility.
I: Kicking & Stomping is a combination skill which your interface merged after you demonstrated capability in both.
S: Interesting. It started at Rank E. And, do you and Forrest like my new barding? It’s not a ceremonial set. I still like even the plain one.
I: Yes, it is aesthetically pleasing.
He’s using ‘and’ a lot to start sentences, I think to share his feeling of accomplishment. He still isn’t using ‘and’ or ‘but’ to join sentences, though.
He may eventually start to do so as he observes everyone else doing so.
I told him, “Morning, Swagger. I like the subdued brown on almost-black pattern. It reminds me of rugs made by an aboriginal people in Jacques’ home country. Overall, it sure sounds like you have been using your time effectively.”
S: I paid for it myself! Everyone else at Level 19 is way ahead of me. I still have a LONG way to catch up.
Ferret said, “Yeah, but I’m still Level 0 and feel that way about my basic world knowledge. We’ll catch up, though!
“Level 4 Onre, I.”|| Onre and I are at Level 4 now. satisfaction
“Defensive Rush I chose.” || I chose Defensive Rush as my new skill.
“Myself I interpose.” || It helps me quickly interpose myself between a friend and foe.
“Yesterday I got.” || I just got it yesterday.
I commented, “That sounds like a great skill for a tank, Sun.” || nice choice
Onre shared, “My choice was the same as yours, HPR Boost.”
“I know I’m not part of your team,” Norrus said, “but I’ve been staying at your house for the past few days. My Mom and Belenay Sholut went to Capital City to shop for fabrics, and Master Runtel Trillet accompanied them, something to do with the Adventuring Guild. They should be back this evening.”
Kossa filled me in. “Forrest, do you know Cottages has an Adventuring Guild now?” I knew it was going to happen and told her I was surprised it happened this soon. “When Ronkel flew to Capital City a little over a week ago, the Duchy’s Guild Leadership agreed to establish a branch here, and they sent two representatives to establish it. I don’t know why Master Trillet had to go back, though. While Ronkel was there, that’s when the Thieves Guild authorized her to form a branch of that in Cottages, also.”
I remember that her job title had changed to Thieves Guildmaster. Now that makes sense.
It made sense before, dumbass.
We continued to hold friendly conversation until we were done eating. Mom explained that they had decided to make it a tour day, basically following her daily route as a postwolf. Arrjee and Carrie had traveled with her during her rounds, but no one else in our party had traveled the area. Kossa had moved here from the Fourth Duchy, but she was not well acquainted with our local region.
It turned out that my whole party had joined the Adventuring Guild, even Swagger. Onre, Ferret, Corval, and Mowd had also joined the Thieves Guild. You had to be at least 13 to join a guild, so neither Carrie nor Norrus were members of anything. I was sure Carrie would be joining the Crafting Guild within the year, though.
Heck, within a few years, Cottages might have a dedicated Tailor’s Guild.
Yes.
When we were finished, we put out the fire and cleaned up. Swagger did his best to help, using his Make Water on the remaining embers. He was making a lot more than I could. He produced an actual slow, streaming dribble instead of distinct, individual drops. Onre handed me two peaches, which I put in my pouch. “One for you and one for Swagger.” We both thanked him.
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We mounted our horses. Everyone except Sun, Carrie, and Norrus had their own. The latter two rode together. Sun explained that his three legs were strong and swift. He could not match a horse’s galloping stride; his legs were too close together. But he could easily match a steady trot. The effort we needed to put into two-legged locomotion he spread out to three, although the overall stamina points he expended would be equivalent to a biped’s fast run. Arrjee added that Odd Earth could similarly keep up with a trot’s pace. Sun and Odd had raced several times, and there had been no consistent winner.
RS: My usual route covers five villages, including Cottages. There is usually no mail delivery on weekends, but since we’ll be visiting the towns anyway, I brought mail to drop off at three post offices. I might pick up mail from one of those towns to deliver later in the route. I don’t always have deliveries in all four towns, but general mail volume is picking up, and I have to stop in each town anyway to check for pickups. We’ll also take some time for a quick tour of each village.
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FR: Mom, I remember that Hesta Blakeman recognized you from your duties in River, and Lenyet Birch and Harun Borrel are from there. Where else will we be going?
RS: The three other villages are Fork, Hilltop, and Trees. Asha Yon and his family are from Trees. Hilltop is the smallest village in the region, about one third the size of Cottages' 350 people. Fork is the largest, with about 500 people. It benefits from being right near the intersection of two main roads.
AS: How does the fort where we met Asha get its mail? I don’t think that was very far from River.
RS: The fort is probably 25 miles from River, and it is part of a different route – a whole other postal region.
S: I better ask. What is mail and a postal region?
Mom explained, with Onre sharing what he knew about how it worked in cities and a more populous region. Sun thought it was handled quite similarly on the Trichyan Continent, but he did not know a lot about it. For the next hour we discussed various topics. We slowed the horses several times from a trot to a walk so that Sun could catch his breath. It turns out that three noses and three lungs sometimes just aren’t enough.
Fork was our first stop. I could tell it was bigger in area than Cottages, but our village is expanding, so that might not be for much longer. It wasn’t large enough to seem like it should be called a ‘town’, except in the most general sense – the way we sometimes refer to Cottages. I don’t know what distinguishes a village from a town from a city, but Fork was still clearly a rural community.
A uniformed gate guard asked us to identify ourselves and our business. Mom addressed her by name and with familiarity. She explained that our purpose was to explore the region, and that most of us were students at the adventuring academy which would be opening in three months. The guard was clearly concerned about the presence of a Trichayn; she kept glancing at Sun. But since she knew Mom she didn’t comment.
We headed to the village square. Just like Cottages, it had a common community and administration building. Mom suggested we all dismount.
She took care of her postal business, and a few of us followed her into the building. It was much like the similar building in Cottage. When we came out, Swagger said he would watch the other horses if we wanted to walk around and explore. Carrie insisted he herd them along with us, so he could explore as well.
“Interface, do you think he actually wants to explore? He may have been to more places than everyone but Mom.”
It is his choice whether to follow along or stay put. I suggest letting him decide on his own. If he wishes to argue with your sister, he is fully capable.
It was almost 7, and both pups and adults were roaming the streets. It was by no means crowded, but this was a dynamic village. We greeted various passers by, and some of them complimented us on Swagger’s attractive barding. He wished he could thank them, but decided sometimes it was easiest just to be a horse. Except for a few children who were either frightened or openly curious, and talked to them, most of the people seemed to avoid Sun. I had almost forgotten that Trichans had a bad reputation, some considering them bogeymen. Fortunately no one was openly hostile.
I said || People aren’t used to seeing Trichyans. I hope their staring doesn’t bother you. assurance
|| It is fine. They can’t get used to us if they never see us. slight nervousness
Arrjee’s response was only emotion. || comfort
We observed two guilds in Fork. Mom explained that their Crafting Guild had split several years ago into a Metalworking Guild and a Wood- and Cloth-working Guild.
“If Fork continues to grow, I can see that one splitting into separate Woodworking and Clothworking Guilds.”
Agreed, if not even more specialized.
We found a public water trough for the horses and allowed them to drink. Sun said they needed a drink too, which made sense since he was not riding. There was a nearby hand pump where he was able to use his hands to hold drinking water. That’s handy – two hands for the water and one to pump it. With two elbows on each of their long arms, they had no trouble positioning their hands where they wanted them.
We spent about half an hour looking around town before heading to our next destination, Hilltop. It took almost an hour to get there. Everyone seemed to be enjoying our sight-seeing adventure. I knew I was. As its name states, the village was on top of a plateaued hill. The road up to it was fairly steep. It was my first encounter on Heere with a significant height. It probably wasn’t more than 150 yards, but that stands out in flatlands.
If you checked your map, you could see that the maximum elevation of this hill is 162 yards.
I checked as Interface had suggested, and sure enough I found the way to view elevation of certain locations.
“Cool. Thanks!”
This place was barely a village. Mom said it was a third the size of Cottages, so that is just over 100 people. I’m sure there are smaller places, but this one didn’t even have a wall, and no guard along the road.
FR: With no wall, how would they handle it here if there were an attack by beasts or monsters?
RS: Non-fighters would head indoors, and those who could fight would come out and protect their village.
FD: Think about it, Forrest. These people are more safe than those who live on farms. Or nomads.
FR: Okay. I think I got spoiled by our walls.
We didn’t spend very much time there. There just wasn’t a lot to see. The general quality of construction was good, but it was noticeably better in Fork and Cottages. Those few people we met seemed to accept Sun’s presence as a matter of course, and they went out of their way to welcome them.
We had passed two large, stone and mortar buildings built like mini-fortresses, though. One of them was where the post office was.
Those must be the ‘indoors’ Mom mentioned.
Yes.
We traveled to our next destination, River. As we were approaching, I opened my map and zoomed out some and scrolled around to find Fifth Duchy Fort 3. There was a lot of fog between us and the fort, but with our excursion around and outside the fort, a large enough area had been unfogged to find it.
If we were closer, it would show on the map legend.
“That makes sense. I’m happy to be getting a feel for what’s where, though.”
River’s gate guard politely did his job, then allowed us to enter. He seemed to pay no special attention to Sun. As usual, we first headed to the village square for Mom to handle her postal responsibilities. We, including the horses, drank some more water and looked around. The construction of their shops and cottages was of high quality, but had noticeably less of an artisan flair than Cottages does. That was just the same as Fork.
We passed near a music shop, and Kossa wanted to take a look. The sign on the door said ‘Closed’, but she knocked politely. After a moment an elderly man answered. She explained who we were and wondered if some of us could go inside and look at his wares. Everyone but Mom, Carrie, and Sun went in. Well, Swagger waited outside, too.
I had been inside Master Brune’s music shop, so this looked much the same to me. Jacques was not a musician, and I didn’t know much about instruments. Until I analyzed, I saw string things and mouth things and drum things. There was a piano-thing too, which Analyze identified as a ‘piano’. It had noticeably fewer keys than Earth ones, though.
Kossa asked Norrus if he were interested in playing an instrument. He said he really liked the way she played the flute, and would like to learn it one day. Kossa identified an inexpensive recorder, and bought one for him and one for Carrie. She presented it to him with, “From an almost-bard to a future musician.” I remembered she would be leveling soon and asked her when. “The day after tomorrow.” I acknowledged with a nod.
At her words, the proprietor said the recorders would be gifts from his village. Kossa insisted on paying, though, pointing out that we were having him work on his day off. He accepted her reasoning and kept the few coins he had been paid.
Swagger wanted to take a look at Rahun’s old stable that he had turned over to his children. We hadn’t quite left the music store yet, and Kossa asked him if he knew where Rahun Borrel’s stable was. He told us how to get there and made sure we knew that Rahun didn’t own it any more.
We headed over there. There was a young Hybrid pup 12 years of age attending to it. We explained where we were from and that we were sight-seeing. The stable was large, and the boy informed us it had stalls for up to 60 horses and a grazing corral to feed them all. The whole area was clean and well maintained. The pup asked us, “Hey, is one of your mounts that smart horse Grandpa told us about?”
S: Please let me answer.
Seconds later Jarin Borrel had joined our party.
S: Hello Jarin. I am Swagger and I work with your Father.
A couple of us pointed to the horse in question. He walked up to Jarin and nudged his shoulder in greeting.
JB: You’re a horse in a party?!
S: That is what people keep telling me. You don’t need to use the party interface to talk to me, though. I can hear and understand you.
“Minor gods! I wish Mom were here. She’d love to meet you.”
S: How long would it take to get her?
He said probably about 10 minutes. Mom told him to do it. He was excited, but politely told us if any of our horses were hungry they could graze in the corral for free. That is where we all went, while Jarin ran to, I guess, his home.
We all felt his excitement vicariously, and spent the few minutes talking about it and other things we had seen. Kossa presented the second recorder as a gift to Carrie. She at first demurred saying she didn’t know how to play. Kossa asked her how she would learn if she didn’t have one. Norrus held up his matching instrument. “Maybe we can practice together.”
Jarin and his full-Covargh Mom Berka arrived and he introduced her. The party had another member. I saw that she was a Veterinarian like her father, but her secondary class was Tamer, not Telepathy.
S: Hello, Berka Borrel. I am Swagger. I hope you don’t resent me for tempting your father away.
BB: Hello, Swagger. Berka is fine, and I appreciate your cultured manners. I don’t resent you at all! Dad was getting bored around here. Retirement did not suit him. If you are keeping him busy, you are keeping him happy. Thank you.
“Mom, you can just talk to him. He needs to use the party interface to speak, but he hears us fine.”
We ended up spending another 20 minutes in conversation with our new friends. By the end, Carrie, Norrus, and Jarin were already making plans to visit each other, and with a postwolf among them, they also agreed to write.
----------------------------------------
Eventually it was time to go. Both Borrels removed themselves from the party as we rode away. Our fourth and final village was Trees. Tiyana Yon had been an assistant manager of a lumber mill there.
Several miles down the road, Interface suggested: Check your map.
I did so, and realized we were where Skawa had sent us to help the Blakemans.. My first kill, and with that idiotic ‘combo’ involving a reverse use of Dodge. “Mom and Arrjee, this is where we fought the zebors to protect Hesta, Herma, and Bob!” They checked their maps, and I’m sure they saw the same short unfogged path I noticed, from the road to where Skawa dropped us off. Arrjee asked what clued me in to this being the spot. “Not what, who. Interface.” Arrjee was excited and had us all traverse a big circle around where Hesta’s cart was on the road, so the spot would be more visible on our maps. He and I related our adventure here, with Mom adding some details.
As we had before, we rode to Tree’s village square and Mom delivered and accepted the mail, if any. After that we explored the town on foot. It was past noon, and Mom led us to an inn for lunch. There were two here, but she brought us to her favorite. Swagger volunteered again to watch the other horses. Onre countered that strangers would find it odd for there to be a group of untethered and unattended horses. After a moment he agreed with Onre’s reasoning and accepted that he be tethered to the hitching post with the other mounts.
FR: Are you sure this is okay, boy? I am thinking I might feel a little indignant.
S: Would it be more dignified for me to wear a placard stating in big letters: “I AM AN INTELLIGENT HORSE. I AM FINE ON MY OWN”?
S: This is fine. Just let us stop and drink on the way out of town.
Yeah, that might be a little more dignified, but would likely lead to more questions than it is worth.
Relax, SJW. It is Swagger’s choice, and being tethered will not be a new experience for him. Just make sure he and the others get their dignity drink.
Everyone hitched their horse. We went in and took seats at a double table inside. Like Karzin’s Inn, this place had no menu. We would be served what they made. That turned out to be a lunch of sliced boar accompanied by a side of raspberry jelly. The meat was cooked with a clove-like spice I tasted before. It was accompanied by stewed tomatoes. I ate my whole helping even though I hadn’t gotten really hungry yet.
We thanked our server for what was a really good meal, and Mom paid for everyone.
Outside we unhitched our horses and rode to a trough we had seen before. We dismounted and allowed them all to drink freely.
Unfortunately this route was not a loop, so we had to retrace our route to get back to Cottages. Mom does this almost daily, but the rest of us were enjoying our day trip. Hopefully she enjoyed sharing our good vibes. I was glad to see my Horse Riding skill rank to E. There won't be much ranking today.
About halfway between River and Hilltop, Mom told us that she had been told that this was a good spot to find wild berries. As she was still talking, Arrjee interrupted her.
RS: It is late in the season -
AS: Foraging! Let’s forage for berries, everybody. Sorry, Mom.
Some of us knew from his previous life that foraging was one of his main things And I think his excitement must have been infectious. As Mom was making sure we knew that we might not find anything edible, we all dismounted. Swagger once again agreed to stay with the other horses, and Mom volunteered to stay with him. She didn’t seem to have much hope there would be berries to be found.
We spread out haphazardly. I looked at my map, and I could identify party member dots even over areas that were still fogged.
“This thing is nice, Interface.”
I agree. But I did not design Map’s functionality; I am simply sharing and displaying information obtained via Map protocol.
“You must control the fog, right? No one else would know where I have been.”
Yes.
“Good job! The world is a mystery to be unwrapped.”
Most of us had found fresh, ripe berries – blueberry, raspberry, and something called dampberries. I’m not sure how good those sounded, but Ferret was excited to have found some. After about 25 minutes, my pouch contained about three handfuls, and we were all still finding more.
Suddenly I felt, much more than heard, an extremely deep rumble. It was an ongoing sound/vibration/whatever. My teeth were shaking. Then I heard someone shout for help.
Norrus?
There was a scream, suddenly cut off.
It took just over a second for Jacques’ emergency training to kick in.
FR: If you are alright, type a single Y. If you need help, type N.
Over the next three or four agonizing seconds, a stream of Y’s came in from everyone, even Swagger. Everyone, except Norrus.
Fuck!