~‌ ‌1.09 ‌-‌ Giggles & Death ‌~‌

Noto Island

2nd Spirtday of The Full Moon

Flea ran as fast as his short legs could go towards the lake, taking him twenty-five minutes to get to the same cave they had mined yesterday. Khorwin was sitting outside the cave’s entrance as he arrived.

“Sorry, man. I leveled up my stats and passed out,” Flea wheezed out between breaths.

“No worries. I’m just glad you didn’t have a resurrection lockout or something.”

“Oh, I did earlier today. Killed a terrorbear, and it fell on me as it died, suffocating me. Ended up with a two-hour lockout this time.”

Khorwin visibly cringed at the mention of a lockout.

“Be glad you’ve only died twice so far. The timer goes up an hour every time you die, and no one has figured out how to lower it yet. There’s a bunch of noobs already bitching on the forums that have a four to five-hour lockout within the three days the game has been live.”

“I don’t care about the resurrection’s lockout timer as much as I’d like to find the settings for the pain threshold.”

“You and every other bloke. Shattered Helix had only released a statement on how the pain isn’t real, and it's a great motivator not to get hit. Let's head into the tunnel and make some more coin. I’ve cleaned my bag out and have twelve spots available. I would love to fill that all up if it were possible.”

Khorwin and Flea walked the hour and a half into the mine shaft to find the last vein they had cleared out the night before. It took them a few more minutes walking down the tunnel to find the next iron vein. It took them forty-five minutes to empty the wall of its ore, netting each twenty-six iron ore apiece. They were able to harvest four other veins throughout the night, three iron and silver, resulting in a hundred and five Iron and seventeen silver ore. While mining out their sixth find for the night, they heard a dreadful shriek emanating from deeper in the mine.

“You fucking heard that, right?” Khorwin asked.

Flea just nodded as he looked into the darkness deeper down into the mine.

“You suppose we should investigate?”

“Bloody hell, you think we’ll just walk deeper down into the mountain and be hunky-dory?

“Come on, man, that's the start of an epic quest if I’ve ever heard one.”

“This will not end well for us, mate.”

The adventurers grabbed their torches and started to head deeper into the mine. Moving at a brisk walk, the two kept up the pace passing many visible veins as they went deeper. They came to a cavern within the mine not after too long, with two other cave entrances.

“So what do you reckon, left or right?” Khorwin asked.

“Always keep your hand on the left wall,” Flea responded.

They traveled in silence for another couple hundred feet when the dreadful shriek came again.

“Is it me, or does that sound like it's coming from both directions?” Flea asked.

“Yea, mate, that sounded very much like get the fuck out of here pronto to me.”

“Man, what’s the worst that can happen? We lose our torches?” Flea then slid his daggers into his magic bag.

“I guess you can put it like that,” as he also slid his sword into his magic bag.

Couple hundred feet down the mineshaft, they came to an abrupt end of the shaft.

“Back the way we came, I guess,” Flea said.

They turned around and walked the few hundred feet back to the cavern. Stopping and staring at the now five cave entrances instead of the three that had been here before.

“Now, that’s what we call, proper fucked!” bellowed Khorwin.

The ghastly shriek went off again, this time louder than before and seemingly coming from all five paths. Flea grabbed some small stones from the trail’s side and laid them in a line across the entrance they just left.

“Ok, pick a random path, and let's check it out.”

Khorwin pointed to the right entrance which should have been the one towards the surface had they kept their hands on the left wall. They trotted along the trail for over an hour till both of them noticed their vision turning red.

“Khorwin, I think whatever is going on here is hurting us,” Flea said.

“The red tint in my vision means we're losing health? I was thinking maybe the torchlight was playing tricks on me.”

“Yea, that’s what I figured out after a rabbit wounded me.”

“Eat a travel ration and some water. Blink, one of the shopkeepers, told me, they’re supposed to increase health regen.”

Both took out a travel ration and canteen, eating and drinking as they walked further ahead. Quickly their vision returned to normal. Just as Flea was about to say something, his right foot found zero purchase on the trail and he fell straight down into a gaping hole. The young rogue grabbed the edge of the hole, dropping his torch in the process. Khorwin was there in a heartbeat, grabbing Flea’s forearm and dragging him back onto the path.

“Holy shit, man, this game is way too real. I feel like my heart is about to explode out of my fucking chest. Thanks for saving me,” Flea said breathlessly.

“I don’t even see the glow of your torch down there. How deep do you recon that hole goes down?”

“Deep enough for a three-hour lockout.”

They got up and skirted around the hole. Flea took out his second torch, lighting it on Khorwin’s. An hour later, they came back to the same room with the five entrances, this time coming out to the right of the one with the line of rocks across it. Flea placed another line of stones across the opening they just exited out of and the one they had just gone down recently as well.

“Well, two left?” Flea questioned.

They choose to go down the right path this time. Every thirty or so minutes, they had to eat travel rations to stave off the red vision. Running out of rations, Flea asked Khorwin if he had any left. Khorwin produced a hunk of charred meat from his magic bag.

“Here, it's a cooked horned rabbit. It’s all I have left now. I tried to figure out how to cook, but I didn’t do so well with it.”

Pulling out another burnt chunk of meat, Khorwin started to eat as well.

“Looks like third time’s the charm for picking random caves of death and yells. There’s light coming from further down the shaft,” Khorwin said sarcastically.

Walking towards the light, they could make out the mine shaft ending at a broken stone wall. The room beyond also made out of the same stone bricks. Arriving at the room’s entrance, they found themselves in what looked like a dungeon. Against the wall to their right were two jail cells, both seemed locked and both occupants dead for quite a long time. Past the jail cells was a closed wooden door. On the wall opposite the hole was a small table and chair. Sitting on the table was a tiny lamp, maybe five inches high and glowed brightly. The lamp didn’t appear to be using any fuel, but still produced a constant flame. Flea grabbed it and threw it into his magic bag.

As they kept looking around the room, the dreadful shrieking came from the tunnel entrance.

“Whelp looks like it’s door number one Flea. Let’s hope it’s a fabulous prize,” said Khorwin.

They shuffled to the door, Flea grabbing the handle and opening it. Beyond the door was a set of curved stairs leading them to a very tall circular stone room. At the top of the stairs, they found another wooden door opposite where they stood. Another set of stairs to the new door’s left kept wrapping around the room, going high up. Opening the new door, they found themselves outside in a field surrounded by the forest.

“I believe this is the tower you can see in the woods far from town. We must have walked miles last night to get here,” Flea said.

They went back into the tower and climbed the stairs. They found another door made out of a type of stone with no visible handle or lock. The door had slightly glowing runes or sigils on it which slowly pulsed. No pounding or kicking would get the door to budge. Defeated, they walked back down the stairs and went outside. After a few moments of walking around the tower’s base, they could hear three bell tolls in the distance.

“Whelp, we know where to go now. Let’s get back to town,” Flea said.

They both pulled their weapons out of their bags and started walking back to town. Flea showed Khorwin the discarded quills on the ground so they could gather them. After Flea picked up his ten, he had Khorwin start collecting his ten for the quest. An hour after hearing another single bell toll, the first terrorbear roared and charged them. Flea immediately stood in front of the closest large tree he could find and started shouting at the bear and taunting it. Khorwin, on the other hand, screamed bloody murder and ran through the tall bushes, leaving Flea’s sight.

Just as Flea planned, the terrorbear wound up ramming into the tree headfirst, knocking itself out. Sparing no time, he stabbed the bear's eyes with his now poison-coated daggers. However, this time as he stalked around the bear, he was clipped by a wild swing from the bear, sending him flying. With redding vision, Flea started to get up.

“Go for the throat or belly! It’s blind and poisoned,” Flea shouted for Khorwin.

Getting to his feet, Flea grimaced. His left arm had been shredded. It lay limp to his side with deep gashes bleeding profusely. The Gnome fished out one of the lesser health potions, drinking it. Nothing happened for a few moments, but then his entire body convulsed in agony. It felt like his nerves were on fire. Glancing at his arm, he could see the gashes visibly mending. The Lesser Healing Potion had healed his arm entirely, but the pain he had gone through was almost too much for him to bear.

Flea looked to the terrorbear and found it curled up into a ball, growling, and whimpering. He couldn’t spot any exposed vital spots to finish it off with his daggers as it lay in its current position.

“Hey Khorwin, you alive? Where the fuck did you go?”

With no response, Flea just circled the bear, looking for a chance to finish it off. Not finding one, he decided to give up on the kill. Hegrabbed the few quills off the ground that dislodged during the fight and went to look for Khorwin.

Flea jogged in Khorwin’s last known direction , quickly picking up a trail of broken branches along the path he assumed the Goblin left behind. Coming to a field, he could see Khorwin lying down in the middle of the grassy area. Getting closer, he found it was Khorwin’s corpse. His throat had been slashed open. Crouching down and swiveling his head around, Flea couldn’t find any beast or person in the vicinity. Bending over the corpse, he grabbed Khorwin’s sword, putting it into his magic bag. Flea jerked to his feet and started running in the direction of the town as soon as he heard the distant giggling coming from the treeline.

Almost to the point of passing out, Flea broke through the treeline and caught sight of the yellow fields that held players and the damned rabbits. Crashing to the ground, he tried to calm down and slow his heavy breathing. A random player came over and stood above him after seeing him crash to the ground.

“You doing alright there, bud?” the player asked.

“Not really, terrorbears are properly named, and something murdered my buddy without a trace of them near his body. So no, not alright. The only silver lining is I now have enough terrorbear quills to turn in my quest.”

The player reached down, helping Flea to stand up.

“Stay out of the woods, got it. I just started today. The guy I’ve been grouping with took a rabbit to the chest and died. I’ve been waiting for him to get back now for ten minutes.”

“He’s got another fifty minutes on his lockout if it’s his first death. Each death will add an hour to the lockout timer.”

“Damn, thanks for that info. I’ll go hang out in the town square till he respawns. I hope you figure out what murdered your buddy. Have a good one.”

Flea walked back up to town gates then made his way to the square, sitting on one of the benches close to the crystal. Flea waited a few minutes for the hour to pass since Khorwin had been killed. The hour passed with no Khorwin. Leaning back on the bench, Flea closed his eyes for an instant and passed out.

Flea was awakened by Khorwin shaking him.

“Oh, your back. How long was your lockout?”

“Four hours this time. How long have you been asleep on the bench?”

“Three hours, it would seem. I took a lesser health potion after the bear tore my arm to ribbons. As soon as I stopped moving and relaxed on the bench, my body crashed. What the hell killed you?”

“I have no idea. I heard some giggling, then warmth flowing down my chest. By the time I was able to run inside to view my copse’s camera, nothing was in the bloody field.”

“That does not bode well at all. Add another notch to the game's mystique. I’m going to turn in my last quest and go farm rabbits for the rest of the day to level up. I want to be able to solo those terrorbears soon.”

Flea got up and handed Khorwin's sword back to him.

“I need to find a place to buy some supplies, then head to the fields to hunt rabbits.”

“Go to Blink’s store. It’s where I got most of my supplies. His shop is just behind the blue building on the south-east side of the square. I may join you later to hunt the rabbits and level up. I don’t want to be caught with my pants down when we find whatever is shrieking down those mine shafts.”

“I’m going to head over to the smithy and see if I can get more training with Grom. I love the crafting within this game, man. You learn the skills instead of the computer assisting you or playing a mini-game to craft. It’s bloody brilliant. I’m still learning how to smelt the ingots without impurities, but it’s work I’m enjoying.”

“That reminds me, I should get in some training as well. I’ll do that after I farm the rabbits tonight or tomorrow morning. I won't be at the mines tonight. I need to log off and do some errands and contact some friends. What inn have you been staying at?” Flea asked.

“I'm staying at The Brazen Boar on the south end of the square.”

“Alright, I’ll leave a message with the barkeep for you when I want to head back into the mines again.”

“Sounds good, Flea. Thanks for the adventure. I hope not to repeat it too soon,” Khorwin chuckled and left.

Flea found the store Khorwin recommended called Blink’s Travel Needs. Entering the shop, a Gnome he assumed was Blink greeted him.

“What can I help you with today?” the Gnome asked.

“I require a couple of items. Travel rations. Canteen. Do you have some kind of beginners’s cooking set that includes a fire starter?”

Blink nodded once, then darted about the store like a kid on a sugar high.

“You got any preference on the flavor for your travel rations?” Blinks voice carried throughout the shop.

“Mix them up for me. I don’t have any preference for them yet. I’ve only had the basic ones; and they were bland,” Flea replied.

Moments later, Blink was back at the counter with four stacks of five travel rations, a canteen, and a rectangular metal box. The box was cast iron, twelve inches long, eight broad, and three inches deep. When Flea nodded to the box, Blink started to explain.

“This here is a cook’s camping set. Inside you’ll find the handle to attach to the box to make a cooking pot, four sets of forks and knives, the lid becomes a plate, and inside there are three slightly smaller plates and a firestarter. The set also comes with a few small containers of simple herbs and spices. If you run out of any of them or want more variety, you can come back here. I’ve got a broad selection.”

“How much for everything?”

“The cook’s camping set, two silver 50 copper, twenty rations, three copper a piece for 60 copper, the canteen, 40 copper. Your total comes out to three silver and 50 copper.”

Flea paid Blink, left the store and headed to the fountain to fill up his canteens. He then headed to The Drunken Ogre to stash some of his goods so he could head to the north fields to grind rabbits.