After spending another day at school Gertrude, Franz, and Luke were all plenty exhausted and ready to kick back and relax. They had all agreed however to meet up in-game and continue their adventure. They couldn't afford breaks anyways. If they fell behind the curb and let the majority of the players pass them by, they would miss out on opportunities one would only find if you took a risk and ventured out on your own. On top of that, the three of them agreed that playing Dreamscape Online was one of the best ways that they could honor Riley’s memories. Riley loved games and had intended to play together with everyone. Since that never worked out, Luke had suggested they all play together, as if he was with them, and do what they had intended to do from the beginning. Explore this new world and see the craziness it contained with their own eyes.

Puff and Delric were waiting next to the villages quest board when Tanyargh jogged up to them. “Sorry I’m a bit late, I had to finish my homework before I logged in so I wouldn’t forget to do it before I go to bed tonight.” Puff rolled his eyes. “You two are such perfectionists when it comes to school, why can’t you take it easy. It’s the weekend now, you don’t have to worry about it until Monday.” Tanyargh looked down at him, which wasn’t all that difficult due to their sizes. “Just because I have the time to be lazy about doing homework doesn’t mean I should be. Besides, if I get it done right away, I don’t have to worry about it later and I can have as much fun as I like. Hey, Franz. Did you find any promising quests up today?”

Franz held up two posters that he had pulled from the quest board. “These two seem like they could be promising. This one here,” Franz held up the poster in his left hand. “It’s a goblin subjugation quest. A village is located out on the plains. Whenever the village gets too populated the goblins spread out and start attacking travelers on the roads nearby. Adventurers are sent periodically to cull the numbers a bit as a means of preventing these attacks from starting. I think goblins would be a good monster to start out on and practice our teamwork in combat. We haven’t really had any practical experiences in combat yet.

Franz held up the other poster in his right hand. “This is a gathering quest that takes us to the same region. It pays decent because potential gatherers could be attacked by the nearby goblins so there is a bit more pay to compensate for the risk of attack. They are asking for a bag full of Pepperwind weeds.” Tanyargh nodded. “That sounds good to me. Maybe Puff could find a few plants of his own to get started on Alchemy.” Puff nodded vigorously. “Pepperwind weed sounds like a spicy kind of plant. I might be able to dry and grind it up. Maybe make some sort of throwable to help in a fight? Blinding someone during combat could come in handy.” Tanyargh cheered up right away at the prospect of doing some good old fashioned questing. “Alright, those are some good ideas Delric. Are you two ready to depart yet or do you need to grab some supplies first?”

“I need to grab some poisons and other materials real quick for enhancing my combat, I’m not a high enough level for anything truly potent so whatever I get shouldn’t be too pricey.” Puff said before checking his coin pouch. Tanyargh looked at Puff doubtfully. “Are you sure you don’t need help? I imagine a little thing like you might have trouble with carrying everything, right?” Puff smiled smugly. “Ha! Don’t you worry about lil’ ol’ me! A fairy has ways of compensating for a small size that could impress a beautiful lady like you.” Delric barely held in a snort of laughter at the unexpected innuendo before managing to straighten his face into a neutral expression when Tanyargh looked his way. “I don’t know what that means about your taste in women Puff, but even I know that my visage is about as appealing as you would expect any troll’s appearance to be.”

Puff shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, any true connoisseur of proper joke formations would have recognized the opportunity you had presented me with.” Puff grabbed his crotch to emphasize his next words “I merely used the tools you provided me with.” Puff zipped away, laughing before Tanyargh could retaliate, and after checking to make sure she wasn’t giving chase, he adjusted his direction towards the market square.

“Hmmm. Now, where can I find myself something to murder a couple of goblins with?” Puff floated in the air with minimal effort, only needed the occasional twitch of his wings to maintain his position a few feet above the heads of the crowd bustling in the street. As he looked around, the sounds of the various players shouting out for group invites or requesting specific classes to fill in the various roles needed for a group to fight efficiently echoed up and down the street. Puff mostly ignored them, after all, he was already in a group. Even though they didn’t have a healer, Tanyargh’s insane regeneration made that requirement a moot point in normal circumstances. As long as she kept the enemies attention, they would all be okay. Honestly, Puff didn’t think that would be an issue either. After all, who in their right mind would ignore a 7-foot tall berserker shrugging off injuries most would consider debilitating in favor of a 12-inch fairy poking you with a tiny dagger better suited as a toothpick.

As Puff slowly hovered down the street he finally noticed what he was looking for. “Herbert’s Herbs? Sounds about right. I’m sure they have some of the stuff I need.” Puff floated to the closed door and paused in front of it. As a building made for business, it didn’t trigger his racial debuff from activating.

Invitation Only: You cannot enter someone’s home without being invited in first. The more public a building is, the weaker the barrier that prevents entry.

Since the building before him isn’t a home he could easily enter the building without any trouble. Well, almost no trouble. It IS kind hard to open a door several times bigger than you. Thankfully, Puff’s race had a trick for that as well. Puff raised his hand and knocked 3 times on the door. Since he was already allowed to enter, the door opened inwards of its own accord. Puff flew inside and the door closed itself behind him.

Puff took in his surroundings as he went up to the front counter. There were only a few display cases in front of the counter and they were all well built to dissuade thievery. Half-assed ones at least. A scrawny old man with glasses so thick they might have stopped arrows was seated behind the counter. His hands were shaking, an obvious indication of his advanced age affecting him. “Oh, a fairy. I don’t get to see many of your kind in these parts. Are you a traveler perhaps?” Puff landed on the old man’s counter in front of him before nodding and extending his hand towards him. “My name is Puff. I was hoping to stock up on some ingredients before leaving on a quest I have with my party.” The old man smiled and extended a pinky towards Puff and using it to shake hands with the diminutive creature before him. “My name is Herbert, but I’m sure you already knew that. Now, what can I get for you today?”

Puff thought for a moment before listing off a couple of things he had learned would be both effective and within his budget. “Let’s see, I need some Hogsbane, White lily, and Yupi root. I think Sniffleswart might be useful… oh, do you have any Hushvine leaves? I could probably whip up something interesting with that.” “Sure I do. Do you want it fresh, or dried?” “I think dried would be good. It shouldn’t affect the potency to much with the way I intend to use it.” Herbert busied himself gathering everything that Puff asked for as the list continued to grow. Puff noticed that the shaking in the old man’s hands had all but disappeared as Herbert was a flurry of chopping, grinding, and packaging. The way he carefully handled every ingredient with no mistakes during his work made it seem like he was a completely different person.

“Hey Herbert, how long have you been doing this kind of work?” Herbert didn’t turn around when he answered, but Puff could hear the cheer in his voice. Herbert clearly loved his work. “I’ve run this shop for almost 30 years, but I had been doing work in herblore for 20 years before that.” 50 years?! Puff was amazed at the man’s experience before he shook his head. He couldn’t have done this for 50 years, it’s just a game. Still, though, Puff was glad to hear that random shopkeepers had at least preliminary backstories. He doubted players ever bothered with a basic conversation involving the NPC’s all too often. Thinking that, he remembered the news about the update that was coming out in a few days. He thought the NPC’s already behaved realistically. To think that this update would make that even better? Puff was excited about what this change would bring to the table.

Puff’s thoughts were interrupted when Herbert placed several neatly bundled packages on the counter in front of him. “Adding all that together will bring the total price up to about 2 silver and 28 copper.” Puff opened his pouch and pulled out 3 silver coins and placed them in Herbert’s open palm. As soon as Puff was no longer touching the minuscule coins they rapidly grew to normal proportions in Herbert’s hands. “I’ll never get over how magic works around you Fairy folk. It must be convenient to have an object shrink to better fit your size.” Herbert placed the silver coins in a hidden drawer under the counter and held out the 72 copper that Puff would receive as change. “Here you go fella, I hope my herbs serve you well.” Puff nodded and made a motion to grab the coins from Herbert’s hands. The coins rapidly shrank and flew into Puff’s hand and he quickly stuff them into his coin pouch. “Thank you for your business sir, I’m sure I’ll be able to put these herbs to good use. Have a nice day!” Puff waved goodbye and flew towards the door. He knocked 3 times once again and quickly flew backwards to avoid the door as it swung towards him before flying back out the door to rejoin his friends and begin their quests.

……

Far away from this small village, on the other side of a distant mountain range sat another small village. This one populated by denizens of a less human ancestry. Dasii, an Aqua Draconian, was still too young to start her coming of age trial. As much as she looked forward to the event she knew she needed more training before she could be ready. Dasii looked out towards the endless wastes that bordered her home. To have such dangerous landscape right next to where she slept didn’t bother her. After all, it was a way of life for a Draconian. Her race lived to prove their strength every day. To be afraid of a potential danger was shameful.

“Dasii! Quit daydreaming and finish the laundry. Dinner will be ready soon.” Another Aqua dragon, this one an adult, crouched nearby. She had a basket of clothes similar to the one in front of Dasii and was busily dunking the dirty clothing into the river and scrubbing them vigorously on the washboard. “Yes, momma.” Dasii resumed her work. She didn’t want to miss out on dinner. Her dad had gone out hunting this morning and should be back soon with dinner. “Hey, momma. When do you think papa will be back? I’m getting hungry.” Dasii’s mom smiled. “Don’t you worry, he should be back before dark which will be in about an hour. I wouldn’t be surprised if you catch sight of him in the distance right now.” The Draconian hid a knowing smile as her daughter searched the barren landscape.

Sure enough, Dasii let out an excited shout when she saw the recognizable silhouette of her father walking towards them in the distance. He was fairly easy to notice when he wasn’t hiding since his bright red scales made him stand out in the monotonously dull landscape. As the figure approached vague details became more apparent. The figure was hunched over as if carrying a great weight. Dasii hurriedly finished her basket of laundry so she could be ready to greet her dad by the time he arrived. When she looked up after she finished her work he was a lot closer and was able to make out what her daddy was carrying. “Oh yay! Daddy found a Rockclaw! Can we have Scuttler stew momma? Huh? Can we?” Dasii’s mother laughs softly. “Of course dear. Tell your father I’ll be in the house getting things ready for the stew.” “Okay, momma! I’ll stay out and help daddy clean the scuttler.”

Dasii’s mother gathers both baskets before making her way back home and Dasii herself waited eagerly for her dad close the distance. Once he got within shouting distance she frantically waved her hands and called out to him. “Hi, papa!” She jumped from one foot to the other as her dad waved back and increased his pace to a light jog. He waded through the shallow river as it rose to his waist before he reached his daughter. He dropped the Rockclaw onto the shore and quickly scooped up Dasii in a big hug. “Hello, sweetie. Did you give your mom any trouble today while I was gone?” Dasii shook her head no. “Nuh-uh. I was super good! Momma wanted me to tell you she was gonna make Scuttler stew and was getting things ready.” Her dad grinned toothily. “SHE told you that, huh? You sure you didn’t make that decision on your own?” Dasii pouted a bit. “She didn’t say no. Besides Scuttler stew is super delicious! Who could say no to that?!”

“That’s true enough I suppose. Alright, let’s get this monster to the house. The sooner we clean it, the sooner your mom can get started on dinner.” Daughter happily followed father and one satisfied the curiosity of the other as he extolled his own adventure in the wastelands. The excitement the story brought to Dasii’s eyes brought him to exaggerate things periodically. After all, what father doesn’t want to be the hero in the eyes of their own children?

“So, there I was in the wastelands! Things were quiet… too quiet. I knew there was something wrong the moment I stepped into the canyon. Bones littered the ground as far as the eye could see. Clearly, there was something worthy of my attention to have claimed so many lives. As I explored deeper into the canyon the only sound that could be heard was my own breathing and the crunching of old bones beneath my clawed feet. Despite how quiet it was though, I knew something was watching me, something dangerous. On pure reflex, I jumped to the side and drew my weapon. There was a huge explosion that happened right where I stood and occupying that space was a claw so massive, it was as big as I was tall. The crab it was attached to was even MORE massive! It was so big it couldn’t fit inside our house!”

“What! No way!” “Yes way!” “But daddy the Rockclaw you have isn’t that big.” “Uhh… umm that’s because it’s a uhh minion! Yes! This one is just a lowly minion of the one that ambushed me! The big one was so big I couldn’t possibly carry it, so I took one of its minions instead.” “How many little crabs did the momma have?” “Umm mama? Umm well, It wasn’t a momma, because I could tell it’s minions weren’t it’s babies.” “How do you know that?” “Well they looked nothing alike. For a Rockclaw Scuttler to be related they have to look at least a little similar. That’s why I called them minions. I wouldn’t murder over 200 innocent babies.” “Ehhhh?! 200?!” “Oh yes! They came outta nowhere like an unending tide, but I defeated them all AND the big one.” “Did you kill them?” “Oh, ye- er I mean No! I didn’t kill them. I gave them all a spanking and put them in time out for trying to hit me.” Dasii’s dad readjusted the scuttler on his shoulders. “I grabbed this little guy on my way home because I knew you would be super hungry.” “but you said you took one of the minions.” “I did? Oh yes, but that was so I could put him in time out with the others”

The two of them had been traveling alongside the river around the edge of the village towards their house and had finally just arrived. “Hey, Dasii, go and fetch me a hammer and chisel from the shed for me please and I’ll get started here.” Dasii left and returned a moment later with a heavy looking hammer and a sturdy chisel and her father got to work, setting the chisel against the stonelike carapace of the Rockclaw before pounding the hammer into it. He repeated this action in a circle around the circumference of the entire carapace before there was an audible crack. After setting the tools he used on the ground, Dasii’s father carefully lifted the top half of the carapace and it peeled away neatly. The exposed meat glistened with moisture, a good sign of its quality and taste. The meat was quickly harvested and brought inside the house.

Once inside, Husband greeted Wife and Wife greeted Husband. “Lily, I’m home! Dasii said you were making Scuttler stew tonight.” “Hi, Igneus. I just finished chopping the vegetables and was about to come out and check on you.” Before they could continue, there was a faint rumble in the earth and the pottery on the shelves lightly clattered in protest for a few seconds before the vibrations faded away. “What was that daddy?” Dasii said in fear. “Don’t worry sweetie, I’ll go take a look. Lilly, stay here and keep an eye on Dasii. That felt like a natural quake but that doesn’t happen often enough around here and it was far to localized for that to be possible. I’ll be back soon. I need to make sure none of the village patrols got caught in a rockslide or something like that.” After giving Lily a goodbye kiss Igneus jogged out the door and headed towards the wastelands. Once he crossed the river he picked up the pace. Quickly closing the distance to where the vibrations originated from.

As he approached he could make out a massive dust cloud rising up in the sky. He quickly refocused his attention back towards the earth. That’s where the risk would be most likely to appear. No sooner had he thought that he was able to make out something approaching him out of the obscuring dust. It was still a few hundred feet away so he slowed to a stop to analyze whatever it was before approaching. As the seconds ticked by and the dust settled down, Igneus was able to make out more and more. Soon he recognized that the figure was moving pretty slowly. Almost as if it was injured. Now that he thought that, Igneus was almost certain it was injured. That slow uneven gait heavily resembled someone limping. Realizing that this person wasn’t a threat he quickly closed the distance to offer whatever help he could.

As if reacting to his sudden approach, the figure stopped moving and lifted its arms. Igneus was close enough now to clearly make out details and he was stunned by what he saw. When the figure lifted his arms he wielded a large club that seemed to be made of rock, but that wasn’t what had shocked him so much. Before him, stood an Earthen Draconian. Blood was smeared all over his body and the club he held ready to defend himself. Gashes weeping bloody tears were all over him. His eyes were glazed over, barely able to focus through his exhaustion. The only thing keeping him upright was his stubborn pride and determination.

“It’s okay now, you’re safe. You can relax.” Igneus raised his hands carefully in an attempt to calm down the Draconian before him. As if this was some sort of trigger, all the energy drained out of the beaten warrior before him and he collapsed to the ground insensate to the world. Igneus was even more stunned than before. If he thought the warrior's front was a mess, now Igneus had a clear view of his back and it put everything else to shame. “Are... Are those Skitter claws?! How the hell did you make it through a skitter nest?!” Indeed, there were numerous sickle shaped blades broken off all over the fallen Draconian's body. “He must not have been able to pull out the claws from his back like he did the front.”

Igneus shook his head in an effort to break the stupor he found himself in. “Enough! Someone needs my help and standing here gawking solves nothing!” Igneus quickly grabbed the Draconian and with a grunt, heaved him onto his shoulders as if he was wearing a fancy reptilian scarf. With Heavy thudding steps, Igneus jogged back towards the village. “Don’t worry fella, I don’t know you, but we always take care of our own. Especially when they’ve proven themselves as much as you have. We’ll have you all patched up in no time!”