Chapter Twelve

As Tam passed through the gates a system message icon flashed to gain his attention. As nothing of import was occurring, he decided to open it .

You are entering the Village of Oakengate

Oakengate is a small independent, mixed race, village on the edge of the Eastern Wilds.

Current population of the village - 412 Citizens, 1 Resident, 0 citizens.

Do you wish to purchase a basic map of the town and the land under its control ?

Why, yes I would. thought Tam at the message, hoping his meagre collection of one gold cred and one silver cred would somehow cover the cost.

We are sorry that we can not complete this transaction, you do not have your Map Making feature activated. Would you like us to activate this feature for you? Activation costs 50 Gold.

Tam waved the request away, he knew he couldn’t afford this, yet, and wasn’t going to waste any more time on it until he had the funds. With that out of the way, he now concentrated his attention on the village he had just entered.

The best way he could describe how the village looked was…. quaint. Whitewashed single story stucco buildings lined a beaten dirt roadway, their roofs covered with thatch, villagers wandering about everywhere. For a village, it seemed to be quite large, consisting of about a hundred buildings in total, all neat and tidy. Tam eyed the villagers, wondering if he could pick himself up a little quest or two to earn some money. Once the headsman had seen him, he would come back and ask a few of them if they wanted any help. That would surely generate a quest.

Alarand passed among the villagers, handing out a greeting now and then to those he must have known. Tam couldn’t work out where they were headed, for it wasn’t towards the center of the village, where the larger buildings were located, but along a pathway that followed the village wall. As they walked a question popped into Tams head, and he spoke of it to Alarand. “Hey, are there any skillmasters in town, I don’t know many skills, and I need to learn a few more if I am to survive in this place.”

Alarand kept on walking but in a thoughtful manner, obviously thinking on the answer he was preparing. “There are a couple of low level ones in the village, but I don’t know how useful they will be to you. After the meeting I will take you to the ones I know and you can work out whether they are suitable to you..” He stopped in front of a blacksmiths shop, the forge outside protected by large eaves. Turning to Tam, he asked “Wait here a minute while I speak to Gordor.” With that he entered the blacksmiths.

Tam was left in the road with Daeron, wondering what was so important here that delayed them from seeking the headsman of the village. He looked at Daeron inquisitively, but the other just stood there , at ease, without answering the unspoken question. He received an answer of sorts when Emerion pooped his head out of the doorway, saw that they had noticed him, and waved them inside.

The inside was dark, only lit by the light of a small wood fire burning in a fireplace against the rear wall. No windows graced the walls of this room, and the smoke was thick enough to bring tears to Tams eyes. Rubbing his stinging eyes to remove the tears, he managed to make out a few features, one of them being the hulking shape of some huge humanoid Holding a massive hammer. Tam stepped back in alarm, but a reassuring grip on one shoulder by Emerion, along with a whispered “It’s all right, Tam, this is Gordor.” From Daeron eased his fears slightly, but the seven foot frame was still a bit of a shock.

A rumbling, deep voice spoke. It was Gordor and even though he seemed to be speaking as softly as he could, the words were still quite loud. “We had better step into the back room, for I see your little rabbit here is not accustomed to the fine atmosphere found in a smithy. A giant hand reached out and opened a door behind the smith. Bright light entered the room, and the fresh air caused the smoke to swirl about . “Quickly enter, we don’t want all the smoke from here to fill my kitchen.”

The kitchen was just that, a kitchen. A table dominated the center of the room and from the beams of the roof hung bundles of drying herbs and vegetables. Around the perimeter of the room were benches , with cooking utensils hanging from the walls behind them. A massive cooking fireplace dominated one wall, with a good bed of glowing embers slowly cooking the full carcass that hung over it by hooks though its rear legs. Just a normal kitchen, except everything was of larger than normal proportions. Tam thought if he sat at the table it would just be like a seven year old sitting at any normal table.

The blacksmith, Gordor, entered, and Tam realized his first impression of his height was wrong, for the man was closer to eight foot in height, and at least four foot across the shoulders, muscles rippled everywhere, and Tam was sure there was not an ounce of fat on him. He looked like a dwarf, but in giant proportions. His hair and long beard was black, not only in color, but also from the soot that coated the hairs. Tam couldn’t see any hairs on the bare arms, but he knew if there had been any, they would have been burnt off a long time ago. Dark piercing eyes stared at him from beneath overhanging bushy eyebrows, examining him just like they would for any flaw in the metals he worked with. The eyes flicked to Alarand.

Alarand turned his gaze upon Tam. “Tam, this is Gordor. Don’t be put off by his appearance, but he is the headsman of this village.”

Tam, whose eyes had not left the imposing figure of Gordor spoke without considering his words. “He looks just like a dwarf, a bloody big dwarf.” Then suddenly realized how inappropriate this remark was and turned his eyes down to the ground. “Ahhh, sorry.” he muttered.

Instead of feeling any insult, the large man must have been amused, for a booming laughter suddenly filled the room, the abruptness of this response surprising Tam, who looked up to see Gordor leaning over, slapping one meaty hand on his thigh. Tam winced, considering himself lucky, for if that blow had been aimed at him he would surely have been sent to respawn.

Gordor stood upright, wiping away a tear from one eye, still chuckling a little. “It’s amazing that such truth can come from ignorance.” His gaze returned to Tam. “Yes, small one, I am like a dwarf, a giant dwarf. That is because I am a giant, and the dwarves are our smaller cousins, so why should we not resemble each other ?” Then he waved one hand, the breeze from it quite impressive. “No, don’t bother answering, for I can see you were not aware of this relationship. They used to be as big as the rest of us, but when they went burrowing around like rabbits many generations ago, they slowly grew to be of lesser stature. It’s a pity that their temper only grew to replace this loss in height.” He shook his head sadly, but perked up just as quick. “Now what was it you wanted with me and this stranger.”

Alarand looked at Tam. “We found Tam out by Melchants Tower. We killed some Grolls that were lurking in the region and found him after, hiding inside the tower. He claims to be of the Eldar race….” Here Alarand paused, expectantly eyeing the giant, but seeing no reaction continued,” so we thought it best to bring him here for your examination.”

Gordor, just stood there, considering the words of the elf carefully. “Yes…. I thought he had the looks of an Eldar. Haven’t seen one of that race for many a generation. I thought they had all perished in the great war.” He once again perused Tam thoughtfully. “Seems they may be making a comeback.” He pulled a large crystal out of a pocket and held it before his eyes, and blew across it. The crystal turned bright blue. Looking a Tam he asked “Which god do you follow, Tam?”

Tam was startled by the question, it wasn’t one he was expecting at all. “What do you mean ? Here in Haven or where I originally came from ? “

“The giant looked annoyed, and repeated the actions with the crystal again. “Which god of Haven do you follow. Speak truthfully.”

“Hanortan. I follow Hanortan. I am his first disciple. Is that what you want to know ?”

The crystal in the giants hand brightened at these words, until the brightness made it look white. Gordor placed his other hand over the crystal, hiding its glow from sight. “Ahhh. One of the new gods, that’s good. The crystal shows the truth of your words, shows there is no taint from the old gods in your aura.”

“What old gods ?” Tam asked, as he was unaware there was any old gods in the game. He looked from Gordor to the elves, seeking an answer to this, but they all stayed quiet, reluctant to talk about this subject. It was obvious they had just tested him for something, but now they didn’t want to talk about it at all.

Gordor clapped on hand on Tams shoulder, making him buckle at the knees with the power of it. “Some things are best left unknown, friend Tam. To speak of terrible things is to risk bringing them back. This is a subject you should not pursue, lso et us speak of better things. I hear you are seeking skills ?”

“Yes, I need to find skillmasters.” Tam replied

“Well, you are in luck, for I am a skillmaster myself, and can teach you the skill of shortswords if you wish. The cost is quite reasonable at five gold.”

Tams initial excitement plummeted at hearing the cost. “I’m sorry, but I have no money. Can I come back when I have earned the money ?”

Gordor just laughed. “You can come back anytime you wish, but is there anything else you have on you that maybe I can take in place of coin ?”

Tam emptied out his inventory onto the tabletop. It wasn’t much at all and Gordor fingered though it listlessly until it came across the old key he had. “Whats this ?” The giant asked, curiously.

Tam looked at it. “Oh, that a key I found at the tower. It’s called Melchants Brass Chest Key, so I suppose it would have opened something at the tower, but I didn’t find any chest there. The fire probably destroyed it.” His gaze moved to the giant, and was amazed to see a glint of interest in one of the eyes. This key meant something to Gordor. “Why ? Are you interested in it ?”

You have just gained the Barter Ability

The higher your level in this ability the greater your chance to gain the advantage over anyone you are bartering with. You gain 0.1% chance to bartering per level gained in this ability.

Experience in Barter is gained by use of this ability in trade negotiation

Momentarily distracted by this announcement, Tam missed Gordors reply. “Pardon ? Could you please repeat that ?”

“I said, yes I am interested in the key. It opens a chest that holds an item that was stolen from me..”

Tam was interested now, this could be a quest of some sort. “Where’s the chest”

“At the bottom of a barrow outside town. It’s the barrow of Melchant himself.” Alarand interjected. He looked at Godor. “You can’t be serious. You know the rumors about that place. I know of at least four people who have gone into that place, and never returned. Even the wild dogs take a wide detour around it.”

This didn’t put Tam off. “So you want me to go with you on a quest to the barrow and retrieve the chest. ?” He got goosebumps just thinking about it, but come one, he thought to himself, another quest, finally.

The giant looked at him, puzzled. “What the fuck are you going on about. There is no bloody quest, whatever that it, I’m taking the key and going down there myself. You, you are going to stay here and wait. If there is anything in the chest of value, I’ll bring it back for you, but you are definitely not going with me.” He stuck out one hand, waiting for the key.

Tam put the key away in a pocket. “No way. If the key needs to go, I’m going with it.”

The giant just grunted and scratched his chin. “”Ok, if the only way I’m getting that key is if you’re attached to it, then come if you want. If you get killed, then I will just remove it from your corpse. Don’t get in my way, and stay behind me, I won’t have time to worry about you.” He looked at the elves. “You three want to come as well ? You can babysit the keycorpse so I don’t have to waste my time with him.”

The elven trio looked at each other, then back at Gordor. “Count us in.” they chimed. Tam, meanwhile, just stood there, totally ignored and considered as insignificant. What the hell happened to quests ?