‘What now?’ Carlena had caught up with me at the solar of the keep, where I sat glumly on the throne. Once again, she had ushered all the servants out before speaking to me. Her face, usually pale and thoughtful, was flushed.

‘Can you find other quests for me?’

The sorceress shook her head, silver hair swinging to emphasise the negative response. ‘I no longer think questing is wise. I… we can’t risk further aggravating the people. Already, they hate you. If they also thought you were not the legitimate king, that would be extremely dangerous. It seems that Carlos did all the introductory quests. If you were able to repeat them, well, the people aren’t stupid.’ After a moment she sighed. ‘We are going to have to risk battle.’

‘Risk?’

‘You could die.’

Neither of us spoke. For my part, I was thinking back to my gaming experience. Obviously, when it wasn’t real, I’d taken risks and died many times as a result. No biggie. Here, it seemed, the PCs didn’t respawn. First of all I confirmed that. ‘No one returns after death?’

‘As a vampire?’

‘No, as themselves, just back at a spawn point like this keep, but without their gear.’

With a somewhat feline look of contempt, Carlena said, ‘what a strange world you have come from. No, of course not.’

I didn’t bother to correct her. ‘Can you change my shape, so that I can fit in armour?’

‘I don’t have the Polymorph spell; there’s my Potion of Transformation which would last for eight minutes.’ There was a reluctance in her answer.

‘Could I turn into a dragon with that?’

‘A creature approximating your current size, sire. But we should save that for emergencies, such as a critical battle.’

‘True.’

Her comment about the potion reminded me of the other magic items that were in possession of the PCs of the kingdom. I checked under the town menu, people sub-menu and looked at the items again. Lord Arval had Shield of Defence +1; Trueblade +2; and Ring of Strength +1 which could all be of use. His Potion of Haste sounded good too, but that clearly had to be saved for war. Chancellor Parrin owned a Dagger +1; leather jerkin +1; Ring of Silent Movement. Nice too. Unfortunately, both were away just now or I would have borrowed those items.

‘Sire?’

I blinked away the menus. ‘Yes?’

I suggest we obtain the services of the cleric at the Church of Miya, for healing, and then the three of us go towards Mount Djace. There are monsters and dangerous wild animals for you to fight there, not too far from the city walls.’

‘Not too likely to kill me?’

There was no trace of a smile on Carlena’s face. ‘I don’t think so. I have Freeze as one of my spells and if necessary, will destroy any challenge too hard for you with Fire Darts.’

‘Right so.’ I felt more cheerful. If Carlena and the cleric could power level me for the rest of this afternoon, then with the borrowed magic items I could hope to steam along later in the week.

We parted ways: me to the armoury in the keep; her to change to her travelling clothes, as she put it.

There were no pieces of armour that could fit me. And in any case, I needed to travel light. This body wouldn’t go more than a couple of miles without being exhausted. I selected a simple rapier, mainly for its sharp point, and a light wooden shield. Then, at the last moment I had an inspiration. If Carlena could freeze mobs, I needed missile weapons. So I took a bow and a quiver of arrows.

Carlena equipped for action was quite a different woman to the one I’d seen around the town. Gone was the long hair for a start, it was gathered at the back of her head and tied up very tightly, with a blue headband to keep stray hairs from her eyes. Instead of the robes that had earlier swayed around her with a certain aristocratic grace, she now wore high leather boots, leggings and a sand-coloured waistcoat over a dark brown blouse. Two bandoliers of small purses criss-crossed her chest and back, while another belt at her waist also had several pouches. In addition she had a backpack that seemed half full.

After looking me over, the sorceress simply nodded. ‘Sire, you need water.’

Already feeling encumbered – not in the sense of any game penalty, just with the clutter of my gear – I felt even more so when we finally left the keep, having ordered servants to bring me an empty backpack and a large skin of water.

There was no need for Carlena to discreetly guide me to the church, a tall wooden spire acted as my route marker. As we walked, I checked the timers on all my projects, so that I could react promptly as soon as they were complete. Figus was out on a trade negotiation, time to complete unknown. Chancellor Parrin, similarly, was scouting with an unknown completion time. There were four hours to go until the smithy used up the iron I’d assigned this morning, at which point I would have twenty-four more steel pickaxes for the miners. Three days and six hours remained on my Shipbuilding 1 research countdown; exactly one day on the hunting lodge 3; and, from the military menu, just over two days for tower machicolations. As far as planning the kingdom went, I just had to allocate the new pickaxes when they were ready and I was good until the morning, when I would have at least 3 – hopefully 4 – iron ingots to assign.

Although the spire of the church stood out above the low roofs of the shops and houses of the town, the building itself was a simple wooden hexagon shape. It was more roof than room. Each of the six sides had a window that was simply a circular hole in the wall. Since we were experiencing a mild, if dull, day (late summer perhaps?) it wasn’t uncomfortable, but surely winter assemblies here would be cold? The décor consisted of carvings in the wooden walls, some of them quite impressive interlacing. If there was a message, it was probably about fertility, given all the flowers and plants that were depicted.

Looking through the town menu and buildings submenu, I found the church.

Church level 1

Priest: cleric level 1

Benefits: heals one person per day of minor wounds (cannot cure diseases, heal victims of poison or remove magical curses). Increases town Happiness by 1.

Well, that was interesting. It made me ambitious to have a high level church building, one that could heal a full range of injuries and improve the town’s Happiness considerably. But then, probably every building had its uses. I needed to read up on them all.

The cleric was a female, her dress a simple tunic, but with a wreath of vine holding back her hair from a plain and nervous-looking face.

‘Sire?’

‘Come with us. I need you to assist while I fight.’

‘Get your armour,’ added Carlena.

I took a seat. The bench was too narrow for my body, but at least it faced directly into the wide space in the centre of the church and I could stretch my legs out and keep my balance. While we waited for the cleric to put her fighting gear on, I asked Carlena about how magic worked. The short version was that spell casters had a mana bar that depleted according to the level of the spell they cast. It sounded familiar enough, although as she talked I got the impression that mana came back so slowly that she rarely cast more than four spells a day, which was stricter than most games I was used to.

With every level up, Carlena gained the capacity to cast a new spell and a new spell for her spell book. You assigned a spell from the book to a place on what was effectively a UI (she said a set of runes appeared at the edge of her vision) and in theory, you had to make a choice each morning. In Carlena’s case there was no choice because she had only nine spells for her nine slots.

‘I believe it is possible for you to research more for me. Also for me to find scrolls and other spell books from expeditions and quests. Carlos never told me he could do it; he didn’t trust me enough.’

‘Let me see if spells are in the town research menu.’ There was indeed a sub-menu for spells: it seemed that you researched a spell by level and class and got a random result. This menu, however, was all greyed out and would only be available when Carrick had a scriptorium. I told her so.

‘What are you building now?’ she asked.

‘Hunting lodge three. Which is only a two-day build, whereas a scriptorium level one would take three days. What's the logic here, do you know? What makes some buildings longer than others?’

Although it was obvious that Carlena didn't have a ready answer, she seemed reluctant to admit it and after a moment said, 'materials, importance, lots of factors. A scriptorium, even level one, could lift us into the first rank of kingdoms. Magic is key to winning battles. If you discovered Fireball for me, for example, that would make all the difference.’

‘I don’t know. If the people are starving, that’s us defeated before we even get to battle. I have to solve that first.’

‘We. We have to solve this. You are not really king, Sean de Courcy. Remember that.’

Something about her tone made me look carefully at the sorceress. What could I see in her face and those extraordinary indigo eyes? Determination, authority and… ambition perhaps. Given that she needed me to access the menus for the realm, I had nothing to fear from her, did I? This was, however, a new universe, I reminded myself and I should take nothing for granted.

At last our cleric returned, looking completely different. Now she was wearing a chainmail suit of armour that included a coif, so she was glittering iron from head to toe. In one hand was a fierce-looking mace, in the other a shield and there was a pack on her back.

Carlena stood up, adjusting her headband. ‘Good, let’s go. We might manage two hours of hunting before sunset.’

Walking out of the west gate of the castle, the journey was a dull and tiring affair. I could no longer talk candidly to Carlena and learn more about the rules of the world; we had to stay in character. While I could call down menus, I was self-conscious about that too, given it involved arm gestures. Perhaps, though the cleric was used to the king waving in the air.

About an hour into the journey, I began to falter. My thighs were sore from chafing against each other and my shoulders ached from carrying the sword and the shield. It helped that Carlena had ordered the cleric to carry my bow and quiver.

I was curious about the cleric; what manner of person was she? What was her name even? But quite apart from the fact I needed every breath for the walk, I didn’t ask. It wouldn’t be true to the old King Carlos.

After what felt like ten miles, but was probably only two, we were on gorse-covered, sloping ground that led up to a skyline of rounded hills. Nearby, a lively-sounding stream ran through the gorse and wild grass.

‘Ready?’ asked Carlena, eyes on the slopes.

‘Wait. Let me get my breath. Tell me the plan.’

‘I flush something out and bring it here, you kill it. If I have to cast Freeze use your bow.’

After a couple of minutes I stood up. ‘Right so.’ I took my bow from the cleric and put it on the ground at my feet, the quiver of arrows alongside it. Then I gripped my rapier in my left hand and hefted my shield in the right.

Just behind me was the cleric, a glance showed her looking determined: in her right hand was her mace but her left was touching a circle of bronze that rested on her chest, hanging from a necklace. I gave her a nod, which I hoped was encouraging, but she just looked away fearfully.

‘Here!’

Carlena was hurrying back towards me, with a brown creature chasing her that looked somewhat like a small ostrich or a baby tyrannosaurus. It was sprinting on two legs in an impressively fast waddle, its head swaying on a thin neck with the weight of a sharp-looking beak. It was feathered, but unlike an ostrich had two small arms with claws.

Feet thumping on the path, Carlena swept past me and I launched into the monster. Or at least I tried. Instead of being able to adjust my feet and bring my rapier point between me and the creature, I stumbled slightly and the creature was inside my reach, landing a vicious whack onto my ribs on the left hand side with that chisel-like beak. The stone-hard bone tore through my tunic and when the beak pulled back, blood should have sprayed everywhere.

Good news. The pain was mild, nothing like that of a real wound. And there was no blood, no exposed ribs, only a patch of red.

Bad news.

You have been hit by a Ciatern for 6 points of damage!

‘Freeze!’

I staggered back, just before the monster lashed into me again. With a screech of outrage, the Ciatern – as I’d just learned it was called – strained its utmost to finish me off but thrashed impotently with its two feet fastened to the ground.

‘Quickly!’ shouted Carlena.

Shaking lose my shield and dropping the rapier, I gathered up the bow and grabbed an arrow, only to pull it back too far and somehow get the point jammed into the frame of the bow. My low Dexterity was really punishing me. From behind came the reassuring sounds of the cleric chanting.

Finally, I got the arrow set properly, but when I released the bowstring, the arrow shattered on a rock well wide of the monster.

You have unlocked the Wield Shortbow proficiency

That was progress at least.

My next shot went wide and high.

You have become better at Wield Shortbow: 1

For the third shot I really concentrated. I took my time, drew the arrow well, held my breath to steady my aim and fired. Miss again! It’d gotten closer but the arrow flew past to the right.

You have become better at Wield Shortbow: 2

A heal landed.

You have been healed of 5 points of damage.

‘Last chance,’ said Carlena.

I missed.

You have become better at Wield Shortbow proficiency: 3

The screeching monster broke free and leapt at me again and I had nothing but the bow to interpose between me and that swift-moving, sharp beak.

A flurry of orange darts smacked into the creature, knocking it over, smoke trails rising from the twitching body.

‘Not the start we hoped for,’ I muttered apologetically. It had been years since I had played a low level tank. I’d forgotten how weak they were.

‘We all have to start somewhere, sire,’ said Carlena. ‘Unfortunately, that’s nearly half my mana gone.’

‘And all of mine,’ reported the cleric.

‘All?’

‘Sorry sire.’

Damn me, but this world was harsh. A day’s mana on a 5 hit point heal. Admittedly, she was only a first level cleric, but still.

‘Want to try again?’ I asked, ‘at least my shortbow skill went up a few times.’

‘Oh, did it?’ Carlena looked at me with a quizzical expression, but she had a question she didn’t voice it, perhaps holding back because of the presence of the cleric.

The cleric went forward off the path and it took me a moment to realise she was looking for my arrows. That was a good idea and picking up my rapier and shield just in case, I went after the one that had gone high.

There were several large boulders in the landscape and one of them had been close to where the arrow had travelled, so I used it as a landmark. As I was looking at it though, I had a sense that something had moved, some shadow in the wrong place.

‘Carlena, cleric, come here quick!’

Maybe it was my royal authority or maybe the urgency in my voice but both ran over at once.

‘I think there is something at that rock.’

‘Stay here… sire, please. Cleric, you circle to the right.’ With that the sorceress began moving to see around the back of the boulder by walking to my left, keeping her distance. Her hands, I noticed, were picking items out of her pouches. Did spells require components? It looked like it.

Before either the cleric or Carlena had taken twenty steps a man in leather armour sprinted away from the rock.

‘Freeze!’

I was already running at him, as fast as my heavy body would go, which was a frustratingly slow waddle. Still, I was in a good position this time. Twist and turn as he might, the man’s feet were locked on the ground and I could line up my rapier point with his back. As I did so, a green box flickered into existence, then out as the blade moved on.

By pointing the weapon precisely, I could get the target box to stay and I gave a mental command, go! Lunge! Activate! It wasn’t the word, but the intent that seemed to work and suddenly I jerked forward and stabbed hard into the man’s spine.

You have hit a rogue for 7 hit points.

You have unlocked the Wield Rapier proficiency.

You cannot become better at Lunge.

The cleric was beside me, mace raised.

‘Spare me! Spare me and I’ll help you.’ The man was pale and faltering. I’d probably wounded him half to death.

‘Who are you?’

‘I’m a scout for King Wace.’

‘Of Southway?’

‘Aye.’

‘Kill him,’ said Carlena, heartlessly. ‘You need to level.’

She was right and moving myself and the rapier until I could manifest the green box again, I triggered Lunge.

You have hit a rogue for 4 hit points.

You have killed a rogue!

You cannot become better at Lunge.

You have become better at Wield Rapier: 1

You have gained 35 Experience.

Pretty good. I was most of the way to Level 2.

With an impulse honed by years of gaming, I reached down and touched the rogue’s body.

Dagger Take? YES / NO

Leather armour (damaged), human Take? YES / NO

2 gp, 7 sp Take? YES / NO

I took the coins, why not? But the junk I left.

‘Should we hide the body?’ I wondered aloud.

Carlena answered. ‘Leave it for the monsters. There won’t be a trace of it by tomorrow.’

‘What next?’

‘I have one more Freeze left and it seems that you have a useful attack with your sword. If I freeze something, you can get behind it and deal your damage that way, rather than try to use the bow.’

‘I agree.’ And I did feel confident about this strategy. It was only a shame that Carlena was so short of mana, because I reckoned we’d now discovered a way I could grind up several levels: Freeze and me Lunge from behind.

The sorceress stooped by the body of the rogue and came up with the dagger in her hand, then tossed it and caught it. ‘This will do to attract attention.’ With that she moved slowly through the heather, but again, it was me who saw a movement. A possible target, another Ciatern. I gave a low whistle and pointed.

Without responding, Carlena walked towards the monster until she was about twenty yards away. The creature looked up. Neither moved until Carlena flung the dagger. The spinning blade missed, but it galvanised the Ciatern into a dash towards her. There was something comical about the way it ran but nothing at all humorous about the hammer head and sharp beak.

‘Freeze!’

Again, that awful screeching began and I had to hurry closer to it, cleric at my side, and skirt around until I could line up my lunge at the creature’s back.

It was a surprisingly long fight and I was getting anxious about the timer on Freeze when the mob finally died, after my fifth hit. With a delicious golden rush of light, I got the message I had been anticipating: I had levelled up!

You have hit a Ciatern for 6 hit points.

You have killed a Ciatern!

You cannot become better at Lunge.

You have become better at Wield Rapier: 5

You have gained 75 Experience.

You have gained a level! Your hit points are restored and your timers on skills and feats have reset. Please view your character sheet for other benefits.

This was more like it. I was delighted with myself. Yes, there was still a mountain to climb, but at least I was properly on the path now.