By the time Ethan exited the mud hovel darkness had fallen. The rain had ended and the sky was clear for miles. With no artificial light polluting the night sky he could see hundreds of thousands of stars. Back home, city light clouded the view and no matter how many times he looked up at night, even knowing he was in an artificial environment, he was always amazed at the stars. The natural/unnatural beauty brought back a memory of home.

When his mom had turned fifty a couple of years back, his dad had surprised her with a cross country family road trip. It was always a dream of hers to drive across the country and see kitschy tourist attractions and monuments. Even though Ethan and his siblings were grown, they’d all agreed to go with their parents. The smile on her face at having her kids over for a breakfast brunch turned to shock when their dad pulled into the driveway in a rented RV.

For two weeks his family had ridden in the cramped vehicle, stopping in Campgrounds and enjoying being together for the first time in years. They’d hit every stop on his mom’s meticulously planned itinerary that she’d had for years. His dad made sure to get her a coffee cup and a magnet at every place, a tradition he’d started years earlier.

One night, miles from civilization, he’d pulled over just to see the sky. It wasn’t as clear as what he was looking at now, but he remembered how his family had just laid on the dry desert ground and stared for over an hour at distant stars and galaxies. His dad had told them it had always been a dream of his to see the sky lit up only with natural starlight.

The happy memory didn’t make him cry like he had when he’d thought of his mom the day before, it hardened his determination to get home. Ethan gripped his axe hard and thought of his new spell and necklace. He hadn’t ever had a start as lucky as this one before, and he was determined to make the best of it.

As if summoned by his willpower, a shooting star flared across the horizon. Ethan took it as a sign that he was on the right path. He watched it streak though the night in silence, the glow of the space metal obscuring the stars behind it.

The asteroid raced through the sky and then, to Ethan’s astonishment, crashed into the ground about a mile from him. He rushed towards where he’d seen it falling, meteors weren’t common in the Tower, but when they fell, they could often be harvested for rarer metals.

The crater was about 20 feet wide with the small meteor glowing in the middle. Heat radiated off as he approached it. With a swipe of his hand he pulled his pickaxe from his inventory for the first time. If he worked quickly the stone would break apart easier before it cooled down.

After several minutes he’d hacked a dozen chunks off that were larger than his fist. When they cooled he picked one up and inspected it:

Space Metal: A piece of metal harvested from a fallen meteor. A skilled blacksmith could be able to identify it and possibly create armor or weapons from it.

If only I knew a good blacksmith… Ethan smacked himself in the forehead, remembering Daniel. He’s got to get high enough to use this.

A new notification appeared in front of him:

Quest Update: Flowers, Skins, and Rocks - Completed!

Professions are class based, but require materials anyone can harvest. These materials can be bought, sold, traded or crafted. Find leather, herbs, and metal to learn Skinning, Herbalism and Mining.

Quest Progress:

Mining Learned: 1/1

Ore Mined: 12/10

Skinning Learned: 1/1

Skins Harvested: 23/10

Herbalism Learned: 1/1

Herbs Gathered: 10/10

Quest Reward:

100 experience points

Ethan had completely forgotten that he had the quest. He’d done two thirds of it before entering the bullywug grotto and after fighting the frog god, mining ore hadn’t even occurred to him.

A third alert came into his view.

You are hungry. If you don’t eat within 1 hour your focus will drop and casting spells becomes more likely to fail. You will also suffer from Exhaustion. Every hour beyond that which you do not consume food the effect will worsen.

He hadn’t even paid attention to what the time was. After he’d awoken in the cavern, he hadn’t checked to see before climbing out. When he checked the time he discovered it was well after 2100 hours. Fuck, lunch at the inn was almost 9 hours ago. The small amount he’d eaten before descending into the cavern wasn’t enough to satiate hunger long term, he needed a full meal. Ethan counted himself lucky that the debuff hadn’t hit him in the middle of combat.

If he hurried, it would only take him an hour to get back to Grassmere. But it would also worsen the debuff. Fortunately he was back in a safe area and he wouldn’t have to fight anything.

Nearly two hours later he was standing at the door of Ye Olde Dog and Pony Inn. His debuff had worsened and slowed him down. He could still hear music coming from inside and smelled something savory. Thank god I’m not too late.

As he made his way through the packed common room, he saw a band of musicians playing various instruments and singing a bawdy song, something involving a mayor’s son and a lost cat. Jerry was hovering near the bar, drinking from a large stein and laughing uproariously as usual. Several of his employees were wandering through the room with trays and pitchers.

Ethan debated heading directly to his room for a bath, but his stomach ached as he smelled food again. Changing course, he took one of the few empty seats at the bar and waved to the man behind the bar.

“What can I get for you?” The bartender had a high pitched voice similar to Mihal’s, he even looked like the guard Ethan had encountered when he first got to town.

“Just an ale and whatever was for dinner.” Ethan slid a couple silver across the counter, the man nodded and took his money. A few seconds later he dropped off a tankard and turned to the kitchen.

Ethan took his first sip gingerly. Once again, the strong liquid burned as it went down his throat. His empty stomach cramped as the ale hit it and he winced from the searing pain. The alcohol took effect quickly due to his hunger and he quickly found himself light headed.

While he was doubled over a large bowl of thick stew was placed in front of him, a crusty piece of bread balanced precariously on the rim.

Ethan dipped a corner of the bread in the broth and bit into it. The flavors of thyme, venison and red wine were strong, but if the broth were any indication the stew was going to be amazing.

He ate a couple of bite slowly, not wanting the heavy stew to weigh down his stomach and make him even more tired. He had eaten almost half the bowl when a large hand clapped him on the shoulder.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it back!” Jerry greeted him warmly, before quickly jerking his hand back from Ethan’s mud and gore covered pauldron.

“Boy! Why are you always so filthy when you come into my bar?” His voice was sarcastic in his reproach, but Ethan could tell Jerry was also serious.

“Yeah, sorry about that. It was a long day.” Ethan yawned, his exhaustion was catching up to him, the rich meal wasn’t helping either. “I thought about taking a bath first, but I wasn’t sure what time you stopped serving food. And I thought I might fall asleep in the tub.”

Jerry chuckled as he wiped his hand on his handkerchief.

“I’ll let you finish your meal then.” He reached over to pat him on the shoulder again but his hand stopped in mid air and he redirected into an awkward wave before walking off.

Ethan took another swig from his ale and resumed eating. He hadn’t taken a second bite before a much smaller hand patted his shoulder. When he turned, Alera had sat down on the stool beside him.

“You certainly do get yourself dirty.” Her voice was soft and sweet before she coughed. “What did you kill that smells so bad?”

Ethan was about to return her comment when he noticed that the man who had been seated on his other side had moved several inches away and that the bartender seemed to be avoiding him.

“A giant frog.” His biting retort had vanished when he realized how right she was. “And about twenty bullywugs.”

“Well at least you cleared out the marsh a bit.” She tipped her drink to him before taking a sip.

“You not working tonight?” Ethan didn’t think Jerry would approve of her drinking with one of his patrons at the bar in the middle of her shift.

She shook her head, wiping away the froth from her sip.

“I worked this morning, but I tried the stew before I left and wanted to eat here for dinner.”

Ethan nodded in agreement, taking another bite. The food had been great at the inn while he’d been staying here. They continued chatting while he finished his meal. Ethan learned she’d always lived in Grassmere, and with no strong affinity for any crafting skills had become one of Jerry’s barmaids. NPCs were programmed not to understand that they were part of a game so Ethan had come up with a generic backstory about wanting adventure early after he’d gotten trapped there. He told her some half truths about what his goals were and who he was.

“So are you always this friendly to people here, or is it just something about me?” He’d had a couple more ales and was feeling overly friendly.

“Well most people don’t come in here smelling like shit and bearing hideous jewelry.” Her accent slurred a little from having matched him pint for pint. “Which I see you’re now wearing, its just fucking awful.”

Ethan blushed, he’d forgotten he was wearing the disgusting tooth necklace and made to hide it under his shirt.

“Nah, let me see that.” Alera reached over and took it off of him. When she got close the faint smell of honeysuckle wafted over to him.

Using his knife from dinner, she carefully cut off all the extra teeth, leaving just the large one attached to the blue gem in the middle. She grabbed a napkin from the bar and polished the large wolf fang, ridding it of the crusted blood that had remained.

“There, now it won’t make people vomit to see it.” And she held it back to him.

Ethan took it from her and inspected her handiwork:

Wolf Tooth Necklace

Quality: Uncommon (Crafted)

+1 Constitution

+1 Strength

This necklace was lovingly made by Mihal for this husband Jerry. It was abhorrent, but has been cleaned. It’s not quite as ugly now.

Ethan was impressed, the flavor text was much shorter and less insulting, but she’d also managed to remove the penalty to his charisma.

“Thank you.” Her smell lingered briefly as he put it back on. She smiled at him as she wiped her hands with a napkin.

“You’re welcome. Mihal’s heart is in the right place, but he gets so hurried he does shoddy work, well, usually.”

Ethan yawned, the need for sleep was overtaking him.

“Oh, you look right exhausted.” Suddenly, she looked apologetic. “I guess I’ll let you get to bed.”

“Yeah, it was… a long day.” He yawned again. “Are you working in the morning?”

“Nah,” she shook her head in response. “It’s my day off.”

“Oh.” Ethan felt saddened to not see her again, he didn’t ever come back to Grassmere, and if he did there’d be no guarantee he’d be in the same instance she was. “Well, thank you for everything Alera. You’ve made my brief stay here really nice.”

That was true, he’d usually rushed through the zone not talking to anyone if he hadn’t needed to. The Planes of Aranor were just meant to get players to level 10 and then they were off to Startesgarde and the rest of the game.

He rose to his feet and she stayed sitting.

“Well, if you’re ever back again, I might let you buy me a drink and tell me about your adventures.” “She took a final swig of her ale and stood up, “Provided you don’t smell like a pigs arsehole next time I see you.”

Ethan smiled at the barmaid sadly, knowing he’d never see her again.

“Good night Alera.”

“Good night Ethan.”