Anika found a gnome working by himself in a field. This one was level 2, and he was working with a pitchfork, spreading hay in neat little rows, working his way to where she was standing. She would let him come closer before starting the attack. There were other gnomes in the adjacent fields, but she reckoned that a carefully aimed shot, like the one before, would be the best plan once again.

She lined up a shot, fired it off and saw it sunk deep into the gnome's shoulder. He dropped his pitchfork, grabbed at the shaft and screeched louder than she thought was , possible. It was a terrible noise as loud and as shocking as a police siren combined with a disgusting gurgling tone. This wasn't going to plan. Although his health bar had dropped below 50%, he had now caught the attention of a few other gnomes who came running to see what was going on. After a few seconds of confusion, two of them pointed at her. They came running as fast as their little legs could carry them waving pitchforks and other gardening implements above their heads.

She hadn't planned on luring them into her trap because this one was supposed to be a single kill. The trap was some way behind her and there was no way for her to get there without missing an opportunity to shoot at her targets first. She stayed in the shadow of the trees and wanted to see if she could get all of them injured before they reached her. Then she would have the option to either run off into safety, or figure something else out. At the back of her mind she pictured herself taking a big swing and giving one of the little things her boot. Could it be so hard to just kick these things to death?

There were four gnomes in total, but the first one she had injured was hanging back, so her first shot was aimed at the middle one of the three that were charging straight at her. It felt rushed, and she forgot to relax, but luckily the three gnomes were running close together. A shot that would have missed the middle gnome hit the one on the left squarely in the chest. She wasn't sure if that was enough to kill him because her focus was on the other two. Another arrow sunk into her original target but they both kept coming. Very soon they were so close it seemed pointless to continue shooting. She pulled out her skinning knife and got ready to give them both a good kicking.

They were running so fast it was hard to judge a good kick; she had never been any good at sports in school, so it was no surprise she missed the first one. The angry gnome jumped straight at her, and managed to cling onto her right thigh, almost at waist height. The momentum and the shock of having one of the creatures on her leg made her stumble back a few steps. She could feel pain as the gnome's tool dug into her side in a snappy stabbing motion.

She got one hand on his face and tried to rip him off while digging her blade into his back. At that point she had another one stuck to her left leg, this one was having a go at stabbing her with a much sharper tool. The first one she was struggling with fell to the ground and despite being hindered with the one on her left leg she landed the kick she had been waiting for. The little gnome flew about five feet away from her and landed with a tiny thud. After that she knelt down to deal with the one stabbing her in the thigh. Her sharp blade found its way to his neck, and she pushed it through with a satisfying slice after which his health bar dropped to zero.

The first gnome she had injured had been watching the fight. Seeing that she had got the better of his friends he turned around, continued his screeching sound, and ran as fast as he could away from her. Between them she saw the other gnome who was looking injured, he had also decided to turn around and run. Anika thought it was unwise to outrun them because she would most likely end up in an area where more of them could be found. She lined up a shot and took aim at the one that was furthest away. It was a tiny target, and despite feeling stressed that she may only have one chance to hit it, she could relax and focus on taking a deep breath and a carefully aimed shot. She caught him in the back and noticed from the XP gain in her system messages that the shot was successful. The last one was hardly running, so the shot was easier. Before long she had looted all four gnomes and returned to the safety in the shade of the fruit trees.

Anika wasn't sure if that had been a close call or not. They were fierce little creatures, just like Ralph had warned her, but the size of them meant that she felt in control the whole time. On reflection, they had chipped away almost half of her health, and done some damage to her new trousers, so she supposed that it had been quite a close call after all. This seemed like a good time to try one of her apples. She pulled one out of her inventory, polished it to a shine on her sleeve and took a bite. It was tasty and fresh. Probably one of the nicest apples she had ever had, but then again she wasn't into fruit. It was amazing how the game could replicate the taste of real food and she wondered what other treats might be available for her to try out. Not only was the apple very enjoyable, but as her health bar filled up due to the regeneration buff from the apple, she could feel her body getting nourished and the lingering pain from her wounds disappearing over the course of the duration.

Feeling refreshed and good as new, apart from a few rips on her trousers, she went off in search for the remaining targets. She had already checked her inventory and realised that a couple of them must have had a spare hat in their pockets. So far she had killed five gnomes and was only expecting to have looted five hats. There were eight in her inventory and the quest objective showed 8/20 gnome hats completed so far.

Not wanting to repeat the situation she had just been in, allowing a gnome to call out for help and attract the attention of others, she scouted the fields from the safety of the fruit trees until she found another loner or two at the most. Trouble was, there was none to be found. She found a few small groups of three or four gnomes working together, all of the ones working by themselves were too far away. She would have to cross open ground to get to any of them. At the end of the line of trees, she gave up hope of finding an easy target to pick off. She thought that if she was going to prepare for another mob to come charging at her, she would have to dig another ditch and make a trap.

It took a while before she found the perfect spot. She decided on digging a hole by the trunk of a tree, where there were already some bushes that would hide the trap easily. Her plan then was to climb the tree, allowing her to shoot from relative safety.

Everything was going well so far. The ditch was so deep that the gnomes would have trouble getting out of it with no help and she had found herself a steady branch to sit on in the tree with a good view of her targets. The group she had targeted comprised three gnomes, all level two, but there was a fourth one not too far off. Judging by what happened last time, she figured there was a great chance this one would be dragged into the fight.

Her first two arrows took a good chunk of her their health bars away. As she predicted, they all screamed and ran at her, bringing the fourth one that was further away with them. What she hadn't counted on, was that as they got closer, the leaves on the tree in front of her was obstructing her view. She couldn't get another shot off. She looked down and saw that there would be no way of her getting another attack in before they were in the ditch she had prepared. Hopefully they would all fall in it and she could pick them off one by one at close range.

The first one to arrive fell straight into her trap. He squealed even louder than the earlier one, but was silenced by an arrow to the throat. The others however, seeing what just happened to their friend, were not stupid enough to follow him into his grave. They moved around the tree, behind her, and before she could manoeuvre enough to be facing them, they had somehow propped a ladder against the tree trunk and were almost upon her, pitchforks in hand. She still had a height advantage and would only have to fight one of them at a time.

She pulled out her knife once again, just in time to do damage to the first one. He had launched himself from the ladder and was following the same fighting style as the other ones, hugging her leg and stabbing with his tools. A second one launched itself at her and she was once again fighting off two little gnomes, fierce with rage and sharp implements. One of them dropped to the floor as she cut into his arms, but when the last one from the ladder hurled itself at her, she lost her balance and they all tumbled down onto the ground, straight into the ditch she had prepared.

She was now in what could best be described as a miniature fighting pit. Her health bar was getting close to 50% but the other gnomes were injured as well. It was all very confusing, and the fall had knocked the wind out of her. The best she could do was slash manically at the creatures, trying her best to finish the ones that were most injured.

After a less than glamorous fight she dusted herself off and looted her victims.

This time she only got one hat off them each, so the total was now 12/20 gnome hats. A couple of them also had apples with the same health regeneration buff as the ones she was already carrying. Apart from an additional 25 copper coins there was no added reward for her close call with death. She studied her experience bar and was pleased to see that fighting those gnomes had taken her to 75% of her level, not far to go until level 3.

...

It didn't take long for her to acquire the remaining hats, so before long she was making her way back to the hunter's cabin. When she was sure to be out of danger she checked her character sheet to get an idea of her skill progression. Accuracy, Camouflage and Stealth had all improved which was a welcome sight. She was interested to note she had learned a new ability: Climbing; and gained a few skill points in the process, she must have missed it when she was busy planning the attack from her tree hideout.

Climbing the tree hadn't been an issue, it was something she loved doing as a kid. But she supposed that finding the right tree and climbing further into the branches would need higher skill levels. She also wondered if increased agility would impact this particular skill. It made sense to her that any bonus, such as agility, would always have an impact on skills such as climbing and stealth and the ability to stay camouflaged.

Anika arrived back at the hunter's cabin and found Ralph sitting inside putting logs under his stove.

"Welcome back. I can see you have arrived in one piece, despite some damage to your new trousers..."

"You were right about the gnomes, they were fierce. Still, here are the 20 hats you asked for."

Quest complete: Gnome Survival

Experience gained: 400 experience points

Congratulations! You have reached level 3

She felt another rush as before. After seeing her vision flash in that pleasant orange glow, she thought she could feel her skin prickling, and the increased stats made her feel stronger, more focused and alert. She checked her character screen and saw that each of the base stats had improved by one.

"Good work. Let me finish lighting the fire and I'll meet you outside to show you how we make those bandages."

They spent a good hour sitting in the sunshine talking about the various cuts of cloth that could be made, and how to tie them over different parts of the body, depending on where the injury was. He taught her how to stop bleeding and how to make a sling for her arm in case she was unfortunate enough to get a sprain or a broken bone.

When it was her turn to try, she picked up the basics and was awarded a new skill: First Aid. After a few failed attempts her skill had reached 12/50 and she could place a handful of neat bandages in her bag for future use.