It was hard to believe they had made it to Palmyre. The past week was, without question, the most hellish of Peter’s life, but somehow, they were here. What’s more, Mark was there as well, thanks to the blacksmith Darius and his family. And while neither Angela nor Jack had arrived, there was still hope that they might walk through the door at any moment.

As for him and Beth, there was no question about who was responsible for their survival.

“Thank you for everything,” Peter said, shaking Eliza’s hand. “I mean it. You’re a godsend.”

“Oh, I’m well aware,” she said, giving him a sly smile. “Now, I need to check up on some things, but I’ll come by tomorrow morning, okay?”

“That would be great,” he said as he followed Eliza to the front door.

Eliza gave a wave goodbye to Beth and Mark as she headed outside. “Until tomorrow.”

“Until tomorrow,” Peter agreed, giving one last wave before closing the door and heading into the sitting room with Mark and Beth.

The family stood there, staring at each other.

“So,” Peter said. “What now?”

As though on cue, a brilliant light exploded in the middle of the room, causing everyone to wince and cover their eyes. The light twisted and contorted itself, forming into a vaguely humanoid shape before suddenly going out and—much to everyone’s surprise—revealing Angela hovering upside down in the middle of the room. A look of surprise crossed her face before gravity took hold and she plummeted to the ground with a crunch, prompting a torrent of expletives that only ended when she realized she wasn’t alone in the room.

The whole family stared at each other, stunned. Angela scrambled to her feet, but a square of elegantly inscribed wood materialized in front of her face the moment she did so. She grabbed it out of midair, her eyes darting across the words, then going wide as she dropped to her knees.

“NOOOOOOO!” she screamed to the heavens.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Beth said, rushing to her daughter’s side. Angela shoved the wooden note towards Mark without answering. He took it from her hand, a look of confusion coming over his face as he read the note’s contents.

“What does it say?” Beth asked.

He reread it, just to be certain, then turned it around so everyone could see. “It says, ‘Congratulations on making it to Palmyre: You are now a Druid.’”

The family stared at Angela in shocked silence. She stared back.

Did that really just happen? she thought.

Not the part about dying. That she could handle. Kind of. But had she seriously just become a druid?

A pebble doinked off her head.

QUEST “Get to Palmyre” COMPLETED!

Seriously? You just die and finish the quest? Hax.

Reward: Yay. 200 XP and some family. Golf clap. Oh yeah, you also get…

New Class Alert: DRUID!

Way to go! You wanted to be a druid for so long and now look at you. You really are super, you know that? Oh, wait, what? You don’t want to be a druid now? If only someone had warned you before… waaaaiiiit a second. I DID warn you. Something along the lines of “Are you REALLY sure this is what you want?” Yes, I definitely said exactly that. Oh well.

I knew you wouldn’t listen.

- Your druidic magic is now permanent.

- Access to the Goddess Rune and its associated spell, “Breath of the Forest,” has been removed.

- You have been gifted four new runes.

- You have been granted the Trait “Forest Kinship I.”

- You have been granted the Trait “Grove Sense.”

- Relevant Skills have been converted to “Class Skills.” Class Skills increase at a faster rate than other Skills.

- Dexterity +2, Willpower +2

New Trait Acquired: FOREST KINSHIP I

Intuitive awareness of general animal and plant behaviours.

Requirements: Druid class.

New Trait Acquired: GROVE SENSE

Can intuitively sense the direction and distance of any Druid Grove within 10 km.

Requirements: Druid class.

New Class Skills!

Your Class Skills are: Animal Handling, Clubs, Drawing, Hiking, and Rune Lattices.

Class Quest: “Learn Rune Magic” Part 1

What’s that? You thought you understood how runes work? That’s rich. You had a single Goddess-level rune. Fun fact: That’s the only rune you will ever see that works independently. Have fun!

Quest Completion Criteria: Learn the basic concepts of rune magic.

Reward for success: Learn the foundations of the magic that goes with your class.

Penalty for failure: No magic. Which means you’re pretty much back to cosplaying.

QUEST AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTED

Class Quest: “Get a Weapon!” Part 1

Druids aren’t really the glass cannon type, so you’ll need to get a bit down-and-dirty with your fighting from time to time. Too bad you can’t just go to a blacksmith—druids like you need special weapons.

Quest Completion Criteria: Find a Druid Grove to acquire a weapon.

Reward for success: A weapon appropriate for a druid.

Penalty for failure: Getting shivved in broad daylight, most likely.

QUEST AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPTED

Angela struggled to process the notifications.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked.

“Just… just give me a sec,” Angela said. With so much going on, she called on her Tome and willed it to give her a comprehensive view of her current state of being, the slate appearing instantly in her hand:

ANGELA SULLIVAN

Renown: Level 8 – Druid

Species: Human

Age: 24

Experience: 11,725

Experience to Next Level: 1,875

Base Attributes

Strength – 18

Constitution – 24

Endurance – 19

Dexterity – 18

Willpower – 20

Intelligence – 22

Charisma – 16

Luck – 13

AVERAGE: 18.8

ABILITIES

*Boon – Deus Ex Machina

Druid Lore

TRAITS

Evolving (human)

Freediver

Forest Kinship I

Grove Sense

RUNES

Anord

Beatha

Dhá Chumhacht

Ithreach

SPELLS

None

CLASS SKILLS

Tier-0:

Animal Handling – 0

Clubs – 1

Drawing – 0

Hiking – 9

Rune Lattices – 0

GENERAL SKILLS

Tier-0:

Cliff Jumping – 8

Climbing – 7

Jumping – 5

Yoga – 2

SURVIVAL SKILLS

Tier-III:

Swimming – 32

Tier-0:

Running for Your Life – 6

WEAPON SKILLS

Tier-0:

Thrown Weapons – 7

ACTIVE QUESTS

CLASS QUEST: Get a Weapon! – Part I

CLASS QUEST: Learn Rune Magic – Part I

Angela barely noticed when her mom’s hand fell on her shoulder. “But honey, I thought you wanted to be a druid?”

“Wanted?” Angela said, the slab disappearing as her attention was pulled away. “Yes, I wanted to be a druid. Then I discovered that being a druid is the absolute worst class on this planet. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through over the last week?”

“I’m sure it’s been hard,” she said kindly. “It’s been hard for everyone.”

“Has it? Has it, mom?” Angela rose to her feet, a hint of mania leaking into her tone. “Did you break your skull? Did you shatter your spine? In fact, did you think to ask how I got here?”

“No, I had actually been wondering—”

“I FUCKING DIED, MOM!”

“Language!”

“Really? My word choice is the most interesting thing about that sentence?”

“You really died?” Mark asked. “Like, dead dead, and then respawned here?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” she answered. “And do you know what killed me?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“A GODDAMNED FEASTER BUNNY!”

Quiet settled over the room.

“A feaster bunny?” her dad asked.

“Yes, a feaster bunny,” Angela said. “Lopped my head clean off. Fun fact: Did you know that you’re still aware of what’s going on for a tiiiiny bit of time after being decapitated? That’s how I know that my last head is somewhere in the bottom of a gorge way east of here.” She paused. “At least I think it is? I don’t really know if it disappeared or not.”

“Wow,” Mark said. “That’s super morbid.”

“You think?” Angela took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m sure things weren’t a walk in the park for you guys either.”

Mark gave a flat chuckle. “Nobody died, but yeah. Things weren’t great.”

Angela looked at her brother. Really looked at him. Then she looked at her mom and dad.

Crap.

They were in terrible shape. Mark’s clothes were in tatters, to the point that he didn’t even have a left pant leg. Her mom’s jacket was covered in bloodstains and had a big hole in the back. And her dad… his whole left forearm was covered in bandages, but it was the haunted look in his eyes that really caught her attention.

Angela put her face in her hands. She’d been so caught up in her own shit that she hadn’t processed what was around her.

“I’m sorry. Can we reset?” she asked. “Dying really messed with my head, but me ranting at you the moment I showed up still isn’t a good look. The truth is that I am SO glad to see you. It’s been like, a week of wandering the woods, eating plants that taste like battery acid and running from wildlife. I’ve missed everyone so much.”

“Oh, honey,” her mom said. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Come here.” She spread her arms wide and gathered Angela up into a big hug.

It was great. It was something Angela had been missing since arriving in Arenia, and now that she was there, tears formed in her eyes.

“Come on, people. Bring it in. Lots of room,” she said, waving her arm until her dad and brother joined in. It was a jokey sort of hug at first, but it soon got quiet as everyone relished being back together again.

When they finally separated, everyone had glistening eyes. Angela’s mom cupped her daughter’s face and stared at her before giving her one final squeeze. Angela smiled, wiping her face on her sleeve.

“So, this is our house?” she said with a sniffle, looking around the bare room. “I kinda expected that space-voice lady to pull the rug out from under our feet on this one.” She walked over to the window and peered outside. It was getting dark, which was interesting. It was still light out when she’d died. Apparently, respawning wasn’t instantaneous.

“Nope, this is our new home,” her mom said. “We only just arrived. We haven’t even picked rooms yet.”

Angela turned to her brother. “I call dibs on the good room!”

“What?” he said. “Which one is the good room?”

“No idea. First Grandpa Jack picks, then mom and dad. The good room is the one I like best of what’s left,” she said with a teasing look. She looked around the room. “Hey, where is Grandpa Jack, anyway?”

A chorus of dark glances passed through the room.

“He’s not here?” she asked. She’d been holding out hope that Ennàd’s vague promise of help would mean he’d made it before her, but the family’s reaction suggested otherwise.

Her dad let out a pained sigh. “Sorry, pumpkin. It’s just us. Your mom and I got to the front gates together; Mark arrived not long after. There’s been no sign of your great grandfather, and he wouldn’t be able to get into the city without a Level 10 family member along. He’s out there somewhere, but we have no idea where.”

As soon as the words left her dad’s mouth, pages began appearing in the air in front of everyone. Or, in Angela’s case, a pebble bounced off her forehead before expanding into a sheet of slate with words carved into it—a moment that went unnoticed by the family thanks to the rapt attention they were paying to their own letters. Once Angela looked at her own copy, she understood what had so grabbed their attention.

Quest Opportunity: “Find Jack” Part 1

Just so we’re clear, this quest isn’t so much about you helping your great-grandfather as it is about how much you folks need that old root around if you’re going to make it on Arenia.

Reward for Success: XP, Grandpa Jack (a pretty decent reward, IMO).

Penalty for Failure: Better left unsaid.

ACCEPT? YES/NO

Angela immediately accepted, then looked at her family. “That’s good, I guess? At least we know he’s alive.”

“Hmm?” her dad said, looking up. “Oh, we knew that already. It’s on the familial party page.”

Angela stared at her dad. "The what now?"