As we were rolling into town, I scanned through the items I’d looted off the two PKers. The best item of the lot was a black 8-slot bag that had been crafted by the Player Killer that had escaped, Stiletto. It appeared that crafted gear had their crafters name listed on them, presumably to help crafters get their name and their “brand” out there. There was also a nice Uncommon belt, a [Powerful Hide Belt] that had better armor and had +1 STR and END that would be an upgrade. There were a couple other pieces of armor that weren’t an upgrade but that I could sell later, and a nice dagger that might be an upgrade for Torrie.

I also got almost 1000 gold from the two bandits. Looking over at Bill’s corpse, I pulled out 500 of the gold and offered it up to Gareth. “I don’t know if Bill had any family, but if so give them this. I took it off his killer, and it should help them out a bit.”

Gareth accepted and looked grateful. “Yeah, he has a wife, Mary, and a son, James. I’m certain they will need all the help they can get after this.”

I fell silent again, feeling awkward. I never was very good at being consoling or dealing with loss or grief, so I did what I always did: found something else to focus on. I sorted through my gear and equipped the new items I’d gotten, finishing up as we pulled through the gates of Hayver’s Mill.

Hayver’s Mill was smaller than Ravensport. There was large well situated in the center of a cluster of a dozen buildings. One was obviously a two story inn, and there were several shops as well, most selling produce. A large stable sat off to the west of the town square and I could see a number of horses, which excited me. I was hoping to pick up some horses if possible.

There were a large number of farms outside the walls, but it appeared that most of the people of Hayver’s Mill had moved inside the walls due to the encroaching army. Many were working to help reinforce the wooden walls surrounding the town or helping erect more watch towers. I could see a couple dozen players milling about as well, many just standing around watching but a few actively helping with the defenses.

“I need to let everyone know about Bill right away, and then get this stone delivered. Anything you need here?” Gareth asked me as I climbed off the cart.

“I was hoping to buy some horses if possible. We don’t have any up in Ravensport. Just some mules for pulling plows, but nothing for riding.”

“You’re in luck then.” Gareth smiled. “Enos is our local stable hand, and while he doesn’t usually raise too many extra horses beyond what we need for local use, he usually has a few that he trades with some of the surrounding villages and outside the zone. But with the mess these [Primals] have been causing, he hasn’t been able to this year, so he’s got some extra.”

“Tell ya what, Bull. Let me take care of business here then I’ll go talk with Enos. Have him cut you a deal. Me and him go back a long way, and you saved my life and helped me bring Bill home, so it’s the least I can do.”

“My thanks, Gareth. I’ll go look around for a bit then I’ll meet you over there?” I asked, glad he was willing to make an introduction and help out.

He nodded and flicked the reigns, getting the cart moving once again. I wandered around town a little bit, eavesdropping on the local conversations a bit. A lot of the locals were worried about the upcoming fight, but the other players that were here seemed pretty eager and excited by the upcoming raid. I growled to myself irritably. I heard a few of them mentioning Jericho and got the sense he was organizing and leading this raid, which made me even angrier since he was the douche-nozzle who kicked this mess off.

I forced myself to calm down and did a little window shopping. Most of the stalls were produce, mostly fruit. I’d seen a lot of orchards outside the town’s walls, and there even a couple small apple groves inside the walls. There was a butchers shop, and asking there the butcher introduced me to his wife who was willing to sell me a few Cooking recipes. Two were just generic food items using deer and rabbit meat, but one utilized something called [Stonehide Bear Meat] and provided a +2 Endurance buff. I needed to keep my eyes peeled for those, as that would be a quite useful food buff. Unfortunately the butcher didn’t have any for sale currently, due to the [Primals] preventing anyone from hunting safely.

I spent another twenty minutes or so looking around and chatting casually with the shopkeepers, but nothing else really stood out. More than a few expressed their fears about the [Primal] attack but they seemed to have faith in the adventurers who had shown up to help defend them. Jericho was assuring everyone that they could handle this with no problems, and I felt my anger rising once again. I finally had enough and headed toward the stables.

As I approached, I saw Gareth’s squat form standing in front of the stables, talking with a tall, lanky person. He looked human, except for a layer of fine, short fur on his arms, a pair of tall pointed dog-ears sitting on the top of his head, and a thin, black tail sticking out of the back of his paints. He was obviously a kobold, and while he had a human face his doggish features reminded me of a Doberman Pinscher. I grinned and approached them.

“Bull!” Gareth called out. “This here is Enos, our local stable hand. I was just telling him how you helped me.”

I nodded as I approached. “Heya, I’m Bull. Nice to meet you, Enos.”

“And I you, Bull.” Enos said in a voice that had a slight, residual growl behind it. I assumed it was due to his kobold nature and not that he was angry or growling at me deliberately. “My thanks for saving Gareth here. Shame about Bill, but I’m sure you did what you could.”

“I wish I had been just a minute or two earlier.” I said sadly. I sighed, and everything was awkward silence again for about thirty seconds, then Gareth broke the silence.

“So Enos, as I was saying, Bull here is looking to buy some horses.”

“I happen to have a handful of extras right now. You looking for riding horses, or work horses?” the kobold asked, grateful for the change in subject.

“Riding. My friends and I are adventurers and travelers, so we want to be get around faster than on foot.”

“That’s reasonable. How many were you needing?”

“Five total, if possible?” I asked.

“Yip, I can do that. Won’t be cheap, but I can cut you a bit of a deal, seeing as what you’ve done for Gareth. Come on back and see what I got available.” Enos led them into the stable.

“I’m assuming you’ll need tack & saddles for each of the horses.” Enos continued as they entered the barn, where about twenty horses were stabled. “I have those, so I’ll include them as part of the package. I’d normally charge 1000 gold for the whole deal, but I’ll knock off a couple hundred gold for each horse. So say, 4 grand for all five, plus the tack and I’ll toss in some feed as well.”

I winced at the price, but nodded and accepted it. We’d been hoping to get the horses for around 500 gold each, but I’d saved up a decent bit of gold, and the others had sent some with me, so I had enough. Barely. I walked around, looking at each horse that Enos pointed out as available. I didn’t really know anything about horses, and hadn’t even ridden one back when I was still alive except when I was a little kid. My great-grandfather had a couple horses when I was really little, and I remember riding them a couple times, but I didn’t really know a thing about what makes a good horse. So I simply looked around for the coolest looking ones.

In the end, I picked out an almost pure black horse with a white, four-pointed starburst on his nose. The others I just grabbed randomly, a couple chestnut colors, a cream-yellow colored one that Enos said was called a palomino, and a multi-colored pinto. I decided to keep the black horse for myself. I had a thing for the colors black and red.

“Sounds like a deal!” I said, smiling, and opened up my inventory to pull out 4000 gold. I’d found that if you were taking out a small amount of coins, under 25 or so, it would pull them out loose. Any more than that would come out bundled in a small cloth bag, which was handy. The NPCs also tended to overlook how strange it was to pull a sack of money out of thin air, which was fortunate. In fact they tended to either completely ignore anything unusual that players did that was outside the norm for the game world, such as talking mechanics or using the UI, or they would find a way to incorporate it into their world view. Enos did the latter as I took possession of the new horses.

“You’re lucky, Bull.” The kobold said as he led the five horses over to me. “You adventurers from Ravensport have some kind of special magic, don’t you? That will let you turn these horses into an object you can store when not riding them. Very convenient, that.”

I nodded in agreement and looked over the horses. Each was Bind on Equip, so I’d at least be able to pack the other four up and take them to the rest of my squad. I touched the forehead of the black stallion, and it shimmered slightly and a window popped up.

Black Riding Horse Increases movement speed by 50% Bind on Equip: Equipping this will permanently bind it to you. Do you wish to bind this item? [Y] [N]

I accepted, and the horse vanished, a small black horse icon appearing in my inventory. I repeated the process with the other four horses, and declined to bind them. They likewise became inventory objects.

“I’ll be damned.” Gareth muttered. “That is really useful.”

“Yeah. Side effect of being trapped under that dome all these years.” I grinned at the half-dwarf. “Some of us were born with special abilities.”

As I was finishing up, I heard a commotion from outside. I nodded to Enos and Gareth and headed outside, the two following closely behind. Most of the town appeared to be gathering near the front gates. A large archer or command platform had been erected near them, and I could see a man in bronze plate armor standing on top, facing the gathering crowd and talking to them. As I approached, I focused on him to see his name plate. He looked like a stereotypical “hero”, blond hair, square jaw, blue eyes. He had two swords and heavy armor, and looked to be decently geared for our level. His name plate said [Jericho} and I gritted my teeth. I decided to get as close to the platform as possible to listen in on whatever this guy was saying.

“I know that things look dire.” Jericho shouted from the platform, his clear, deep voice ringing with confidence. “The enemy is vast and powerful. But look at them! They’re apes! Animals! And we, we are men! They fight simply to conquer. We fight for survival! For your home! For your freedom!”

The crowd cheered and Jericho waited a moment before continuing. “Just think, in a week, in mere days you’ll think back and laugh to yourself that you were afraid. You may be farmers, but you’ve worked this land your entire lives! It is soaked with your sweat from a lifetime of effort! No mere monsters can compete with that. If you rise up, act as one, defend this land with all your might, you will be victorious!”

“I, no we, the adventurers of Ravensport, stand with you. As the enemy rushes your gates and engages us in battle, we will stand with you! Ready to fight with you, ready to fall with you. I won’t like, it will be a dangerous battle, and some of us may perish, but…”

“Bullshit!” I yelled, finally having enough of this. Jericho cut off, he speech faltering as he looked down confused. He clearly hadn’t expected any resistance. I pushed my way past several other players and climbed the steps up to the top of the platform to stand next to him.

“Bullshit.” I said again, loudly and firmly. The crowd was silent, watching us intently.

“But.. You… What..?” Jericho sputtered.

”You. You triggered this raid, didn’t you?” I said, angrily poking at his chest. “You fucking moron, what were you thinking? No, don’t bother, I know. You just wanted to get your name up on the scoreboard, to see it in the world announcement for accepting it. You didn’t fucking stop and think for a second, did you? That this was a big deal, that this was a major in game event that would have a permanent effect on everyone around you?”

“No, you didn’t.” I continued. “You just wanted to be a big shot. Get your name in lights and then be the big damn hero to lead everyone against the enemy, give a big speech, right? So you’re up here chewing the damn scenery like Nic Cage in a Sharknado sequel, lying to these people. Or do you honestly think that you and a few dozen under-geared, under-leveled players, a few dozen half-trained town guard, and a couple hundred untrained farmers can face down that?”

I turned and point out at the army arrayed in front of the town and inhaled sharply, wincing as I got my first really good look at the enemy force. There had to be a thousand ape soldiers down there, easily. I could also see a number of enormous creatures that looked like six-legged boars crossed with a triceratops, with giant tusks and massive horns jutting from it’s forehead and nose. I grimaced, and turned back to the townsfolk of Hayver’s Mill.

“Jericho here talks a good game, abut standing and dying with you. But has he told you that the adventurers from Ravensport are effectively immortal?” I turned for a few moments and raised the back of my leather tunic so that the green crystal in my back was embedded, then turned back. “Some of us born under the dome were given special powers, and we have that mark on our back as proof. We’re more powerful than average and have some special magics available to us, but most importantly, if we are killed? We will simply reappear at the nearest temple or chapel. We can die as easily as you, but we do not stay dead. You people do.”

“If you follow this idiot,” I paused as I turned and glared at him again while I said that, and he looked uncomfortable, obviously intimidated by me. I felt a perverse sense of satisfaction knowing that. Then I repeated “If you follow him, you will likely all die. This battle is doomed to failure. I’m sorry, but it’s true. We’re not powerful enough to take on an army that size. All we can do is slow them down and distract them for a while.”

A rumble of discontent went through the townsfolk at that, and I could hear a number of angry comments and complaints asking what they should do, and why they should believe me. I was honestly very uncomfortable standing up here in front of a crowd. I never liked having to do this sort of thing, and confrontations made me queasy. But I couldn’t just let these people die, even if they were simple NPCs.

“Friends, friends. Please, calm down.” A familiar voice cut in as Gareth stepped up in front of the platform, then climbed a couple steps so that his short frame could be seen by everyone. “This is Bull, a friend. He saved my life earlier today. I trust him, and I think we should at least hear him out.”

I smiled gratefully at Gareth. “I’m not saying you should completely give up. But you should know and understand what’s about to happen, and you should know the risks. We adventurers will stand and fight, and if you have some trained warriors among you, you’re welcome to join us. But this fight is likely a lost cause, and I don’t want anyone wasting their lives needlessly.”

“So what do we do?” Gareth asked.

“The enemy will be attacking early tomorrow. That gives us very little time. We need to evacuate the civilians. Have them go to Ravensport, it should be safe there. Pack up whatever you can gather in the next couple hours, then head west. Do we have any adventurers here who aren’t combat-oriented?” I looked around and a couple raised their hands.

“I’m a tailor.” A young-looking man with bright red hair said. “I came down with some friends to see if I could find some recipes here. I’m only level 2 and haven’t put many points into any combat skills. I… don’t like fighting.”

“I’m a blacksmith and hoping to open a store.” A dark-haired woman holding a warhammer spoke up. “I just came here to try turning in the quest from the Werth’s. I do have some combat skills, but I don’t really like it. I only bothered so that I could survive going out looking for mats.”

There were a couple others who spoke up as well. “Can I ask you four to lead the refugees to Ravensport then? You know the way, and hopefully you can help protect them a little against any wild animals.”

Gareth began speaking to the people of the Mill, and they began dispersing to try and pack up. I could see many were resistant to the idea of leaving their home, but most seemed to understand the situation and were helping encourage the rest.

“Why did you do that?” Jericho demanded. “We maybe had a chance if we had the NPCs helping out. They could at least be canon fodder to allow us to do more dam—“

I punched him in the face. My attack did almost no damage, since I didn’t have any unarmed combat skills and my strength was pretty low, but I caught him by surprise and he stumbled back and fell onto his rear.

“Listen up, fuckhead. They may be NPCs, but they’re still a vital part of this world. They’re alive in a very real way, and without them we lose out on valuable resources and quests. Plus, that’s just goddamn cruel.” I growled at him and his face paled in fear. Between how easily I persuaded the townspeople and how I was scaring Jericho, I was thinking that maybe my Charisma and Persuasion skill was helping out. “When the fight starts, you can be the general and lead everyone just like you want. That’s not my thing. I’m a ranger and support. But if you deliberately try and get these people killed, I will put a world of hurt on you, understand me?”

“I… yes, of course. You’re right. That was callous of me.” Jericho said as he shakily got to his feet. “I…”

Jericho sighed and his mask slipped. Gone was the haughty, righteous warrior and instead he just looked like a young man who didn’t really have a clue what he was doing. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I figured I could accept the quest, then start it when I was ready. I didn’t read the quest text close enough, and it was too late after I accepted. And I just figured, this is our first Raid, right? So it couldn’t be too tough. But then the [Primals] started showing up, and just kept coming. I was desperate. I didn’t want to be responsible for us losing the first big Story Quest in the game.”

“Well, you did.” I softened my voice a little, but I wasn’t about to absolve him of his responsibility or what he tried to do. “This town is lost, possibly permanently. I don’t know if there’s going to be a follow up quest and a chance to recover it, or if they’ll simply destroy it. And a lot of good NPCs are going to die. Try talking with them sometime. Most of them have histories that go back years, decades. They have families. They may not be alive, but dammit, they’re still people in some sense.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Jericho looked beaten at this point.

“Look, I meant what I said. I’m not a leader, and I don’t really do strategy or tactics. You started this, you can be the general for this raid battle. Just be smart about it.” I decided to lay off him finally. “Organize everyone as best you can, and be ready to die. This is going to be brutal.”

I turned and headed back into town, leaving him alone on the tower to contemplate. Since there were a couple hours before the townsfolk would be setting out, I headed over to Hayver’s Mill’s job board to see if I could pick up any daily quests here. I’d done some in Ravensport earlier, so I wasn’t certain if I could do some here as well, but plucking a paper off the board, I got a quest pop up.

REPEATABLE QUEST: Reinforce the Hayver’s Mill wall GOAL: Carry 20 stones or logs to the Hayver’s Mill wall to help reinforce it for the upcoming battle. REWARD: 100 XP, 40G [Y] [N]

“Oh neat.” I muttered to myself as I accepted the quest. “The Daily Quests are tailored to the current situation, looks like.”

“Yeah.” Aibee fluttered up from Raiders fur. “Apoch’s Twilight has a dedicated AI that controls the procedurally created quests. It can change and tweak the quests to match whatever is happening locally in response to the Players’ actions. So all the quests here are related to building up the town’s defenses.”

“That’s pretty cool. I always hated it when games wouldn’t or couldn’t update these sorts of things, so you’d have the town literally on fire, but NPCs would still be asking you to gather up some corn for them or something stupid.”

I gathered up two more quests and was able to complete all three in less than an hour. The rewards weren’t that great at this point, but every little bit helped. It also gave me enough XP to pick up another Trait I’d been looking at, Eagle Eye. It increased my ranged weapons base range by ten feet and “dramatically increased eyesight”, which I think meant I could see further and more clearly. Both features would likely be very useful for the upcoming battle.

The NPCs of Hayver’s Mill began gathering by the western gate, loading supplies into every wagon they could find. Jericho still looked a bit resentful that I was sending so many people away, so I ignored him and took charge of organizing the refugees myself. I gathered Gareth and Enos along with the handful of Players that would be escorting them and had them introduce themselves to each other. The blacksmith with the warhammer was named Meera, and she was the only one with any appreciable combat skills.

“Traveling after dark probably isn’t very safe, but I imagine that most of the wild animals out there will avoid a group this large.” I said to them. “Do your best to keep everyone gathered close together, and don’t worry too much about speed. Get as far as you can in two hours, but do so safely. You don’t want anyone getting separated and lost along the way. After two hours, you should be far enough to be safe from any [Primal] patrols. Go ahead and camp, then continue on till morning.”

“I don’t like fighting, but I can and will.” Meera said, hefting her warhammer. “The other players likely won’t be of much help though. Are there any townsfolk going that can fight?”

“Yip.” Enos said, making a sound that almost sounded like a bark. I stifled a laugh. “Both of my brothers and my sister can. Kobolds are natural fighters. We also have three of the town guard who want to escort their families, and a couple of the local hunters are good with a bow.”

“Good. Enos, Meera, organize them and keep everyone safe. I’ll work with everyone here and do the best we can.”

“Thank you, Bull.” Gareth said, sincerity ringing in his voice. “I’m grateful that you stepped up and were honest with us. We knew this battle was likely a lost cause, but we’d have stayed and fought. And probably all died. I wish I could do more, but… Thank you. We won’t forget this.”

Many of the people of Hayver’s Mill echoed Gareth’s sentiment, and honestly it was a struggle not to tear up. It was heartbreaking that we couldn’t save the town and knowing that there were still so many lives that would be lost, but at least this way we would save hundreds. I put on a brave smile and nodded.

“Better get going. Be safe out there.” I shook hands with the Gareth, Enos, and the Players, then stood and watched as they began slowly moving out of town. Enos had turned out his entire stable and they’d put every cart and wagon in town to work, loaded up with as much produce as possible. Farmers were leading small herds of farm animals, and families trudged along with the carts carrying as much of their lives on their backs as they could. It was a sad procession, but hopeful at the same time, because it meant the town would live on in some form no matter what happened here tomorrow.

HIDDEN QUEST: Save the people of Hayver’s Mill CONGRATULATIONS! You have completed a hidden quest to evacuate the noncombatants of Hayver’s Mill before the upcoming [Primal] Invasion! REWARD: 1000 XP, Friendship with Hayver’s Mill residents.

Well, that was unexpected. But I wouldn’t turn down the XP boost. I was curious what the “Friendship” entailed, but the popup didn’t provide anymore information.

“Hey Aibee, what’s up with this hidden quest and the reward?” I asked her quietly. She flew up on my shoulder so she could speak with my quietly.

“Hidden Quests are just that, hidden. They’re secret goals that you can accomplish for rewards.”

“Well, duh. Thanks, that was a big help.” I replied sarcastically. “And the Friendship?”

“Sorry, the requirements vary greatly, and even I can’t see the quests ahead of time, so I can’t give you a heads up.” She shrugged. “As for Friendships, it’s a reputation system of sorts. Anyone who is a resident of Hayver’s Mill, or was one in the case of the town being destroyed, will consider you a friend. They’re more likely to help you or provide you with information, and you’ll get better prices from Hayver’s Mill vendors.”

“Ahh, now that could be useful. Assuming we survive this.”

I turned and climbed up one of the towers to survey the army in the distance. Night had fallen, so it was hard to make out much of the enemy, but there were hundreds of campfires dotting the countryside. I sighed and checked the supplies up here. There were several bundles of arrows, some water and food, and even a few [Small Healing Potions]. I had a feeling it would be a long day. And at some point, I would need to figure out a way to escape it myself. I made a big deal about “us” staying and dying to protect the village, but that really only applied to the other players. I still didn’t know if I respawned, and I was too much of a coward to risk it.

I’d already died once. I didn’t want to repeat that if I could help it.