Part Two

Gordo sat in an ornate chair, his feet propped up on the table top in front of him. It had been three days since the king had granted him his squireship, and that quest. After departing the castle, he had travelled to the residence the king had granted him, expecting to find a small house or cottage, but upon arriving at the address. He was greeted with a set of ornate, wrought iron gates, locked from the inside. Peering through him, he could see the ‘residence’ that was his.

The king hadn’t stinted with his gift, for across an expanse of finely maintained lawn on the other side of the gates, stood a large manor house, its balconied windows dark. At first Gordo thought he had come to the wrong address, but on rechecking, found this was exactly the right place. As he had not been given any keys to enter this place, and no one seemed to be around to let him in, he was baffled on how to go about getting in. He had finally decided that the only thing he could do was to climb over the gates, but as he had placed one hand on them, they opened up for him, then closed once he had passed through them.

It was the same deal with the front door to the manor house, all he had to do was place his hand on it The interior of the house was dark and dusty, looking like it had been closed up for a long period of time, the furniture draped with protective dustsheets. Gordo had spent a good hour wandering around the place, inspecting all the rooms on both floors with one of his torches held aloft. The second floor consisted of six palatial bedrooms, each with its own four posted bed. He had chosen the largest of these, and had stripped the protective layers off everything before jumping onto the king size mattress, sinking deep into its surface.

The next day he had again wandered the building, this time looking for something to eat, for the hunger debuff was flashing at the bottom of his sight. He had finally located a stairway downwards, and following these entered the kitchen. Like the rest of the house, it was bestrewn with protective layers of cloth. Not finding anything that could possibly be eaten he had returned upstairs.

In a room that Gordo thought could be a study, he finally found the controls to the house, the place where he could hire staff to help run the place. It was in the form of a thick leather bound book and sat on the surface of a desk he had uncovered as he walked about. Opening the book brought up a new screen, the house management screen. Locating the page for hiring, he scrolled down to the kitchen staff page and opened it. The list was quite long listing many possible NPCs he could hire to run the kitchen, but the prices were a little beyond his means.

He sat down and went right though all of the sections for staff employment, checking the prices. If he was to employ the minimum staff needed to run a place like this, he would be broke in a week, and that would be if he employed only the cheapest available. The king may have given him a wonderful house, but the upkeep costs were a real problem, he needed money quick and fast.

In the three days he had been here in the house, he had yet to devise a plan to gain the necessary money. He had spent some time wandering about the city, selling the gemstones he had acquired, withdrawing one hundred gold into his game account, gaining ten real dollars. His first purchase had been the gamepack containing the automap, forum and auction features for five dollars, allowing him to see the minute part of the map that he had already travelled.

He had also located the Mage guild during his exploration, and had applied for membership, but was rejected as he didn’t meet the minimum requirements to join. He had already raised his intelligence to six by applying the two attribute points he had spare, but was annoyed when he was informed he needed a minimum Intelligence of ten to apply.

The city was remarkably quiet and empty, with most players out dealing with the zombie plague, which seemed to be almost impossible to eradicate. Complaints to the admins by a lot of players had resulted in the same message each time. The zombie plague is an issue that is beyond our control. If you wish to stop the plague, then destroy all affected creatures, NPCs and players. Unfortunately, while all the other affected beings lost the plague when killed, the affected players kept it alive as being killed did not remove the plague. Some affected players tried their best to avoid passing it on, but there were those who were malicious enough to seek out victims, just to keep it going, as well as to gain the experience benefit.

Nobody was travelling to instances, or seeking out lairs and dungeons anymore, they were farming the zombies, enriching themselves on the kings bounty. This plague was proving detrimental to the game, and for some reason to Gordo, he thought the admins were totally helpless to do anything about it. Players had even tried logging out and waiting for the twelve hour infection period to pass before logging back on, but only found out that the counter stopped when leaving the game, and restarted when rejoining.

Gordo had even joined a large hunting party, and had managed to dispatch a few creatures and NPCs before the party was forced to withdraw from a concerted attack by infected players wanting to cause strife, with only half the party escaping unharmed. Gordo still had the five vials of zombie blood in his inventory, yet to cash them in for the 5 gold reward per vial.

His interest at this time was trying to locate a way of getting the skills he required. He had found the miners guild, a little building stuck away in a corner of the city and purchased the skill, he found he didn’t need membership, but had to get evaluated by the guild every ten levels. The geologist was easy, for the Miners Guild employed a number of NPCs with this skill, and he managed to pay one of them to teach geology to him. It hadn’t been cheap, with both the Mining Skill and the Geologist Skills costing him two hundred gold in total. He had asked about the Crafting Skill, but no one there knew of anyone who could teach it to him, and hadn’t heard of a crafter living within the city walls. It was a rare skill, they explained, and those that knew it usually kept the secret to themselves.

He had asked around among those occupations that crafted, like the local blacksmiths and potters, but none of these could help him, explaining that their skills, just like the weavers and carpenters, were specialized to one small part of the crafting ability. They could teach him their small part, but he would need a general crafter, a master of all the subclasses of crafting, to teach him the skill he required.

He had even scoured the forums, looking for any information that other players may have posted about crafting, but his search found very little. All mention of crafting was to do with specific sub skills, like those he had already tried, with not a mention at all about the general crafting skill at, another indication he was going to find this extremely difficult to finrd.

Feeling a little depressed at how hard the task was proving to be, considering he still needed to level up the skills as well, he decided he needed a break, He hadn’t visited the Broken Sword since the night he had met the king, so made his way down to the tavern.

The place was exactly the same as the last time he was here, the barkeep even gave him a nod and poured him a mug of ale without being asked to, the perky barmaid that had caught his eye slipping him a familiar wink, just like she had always done when he was here. Gordo flipped a couple of coins onto the bar, took his drink and retired to a table in the corner.

Sitting there, quaffing on his brew, he cast an eye around the room, at the other patrons. It was half full, a surprising amount considering the zombie hunt going on outside. Another thing caught his attention, this being how quiet the room was. Normally the room would be buzzing, full of players talking loudly so they could be heard over the noise of their fellow drinkers,, but today everyone seemed to be subdued and, their voices barely louder than a whisper as they hunched over their drinks. Somethings going on here, he thought, and I’m not in the loop.

His pretty barmaid walked past, holding a couple of empty mugs, her generous hips swaying. Gordo reached up and gently grabbed her by the elbow, stopping her in her tracks. She looked at him, her eyes enquiring, a small smile on her lips. “Yes, squire, can I get anything for you ?” giving him a playful wink.

He gulped at this suggestive act, feeling a little uncomfortable. These barmaids were not called the untouchables for nothing, they looked pretty, and made for pleasant eye candy, but they were game scenery, pleasant looking, but not for touching. Many players had learnt the hard way not to touch. “Yes please, do you mind if I ask you a few questions ?” Then he realized he was still holding her arm, feeling its warmth and smoothness. Without realizing it, he started to lightly stroke his fingers down her arm. Suddenly seeing what he was doing, and embarrassed by his own thoughts, he quickly let go of her arm, fearing the wrath that he expected his actions to bring down upon him, much like it had happened to all the other players.

The barmaid smile only became wider, and she licked her lips, moistening them, confusing Gordo. She looked over towards the bar, her head cocked to one side, seeing the barman nod to her. ”Sure I can, squire, ask what you wish and I will answer as best I can.” She placed the empties she carried down on the table next to Gordo’s, then proceeded to take the seat opposite him.

There was the sudden sound of inhalation, as if everyone in the room breathed in at once, and a sole muffled voice saying “What the fuck.” He looked away from the girl in front of him, only to see every eye on him, shock and surprise on every face. Even Gordo was a little shocked at her actions, for he suddenly remembered the manual had stated quite clearly not to interfere with NPC barmaids, they were there only to serve the tables, and were not there for players entertainment, or to answer questions. He had forgotten this when he had spoken to her. He could see the camera icon above most players heads, flashing on and off as they took pictures.

As the ,manual memories returned to him, he suddenly found his mouth dry, and unsure of what he should say to her, so he quickly took a drink to give himself time to settle down, as well as time to think. Putting the mug back down, he asked the first question that popped into his head. “Ummm… What’s your name ?” Oh god, he thought, how lame did that sound.

Her smile just grew even wider, and she placed one of her hands on top of his, then leant forward to answer “Melaine,” she answered, but Gordo didn’t hear her, his eyes fixed on the expanse of flesh that she was putting on display.

He finally pulled his gaze away from her chest, and looked up to see a pair of green eyes watching him. “Uh… what ?” he stammered, face reddening at being caught.

“Melaine, my name is Melaine, squire.” She replied, her amusement at Gordo’s embarrassment quite clear. The muttering in the room around them becoming louder

“Why do you keep calling me squire, Melaine, my name is Gordo, just call me Gordo, please.”

“Nay, you are a squire of the kings, and that makes you a member of his household. By royal decree, we must call you by your title….. squire” Gordo could see she found this so funny, “Is that all you wanted to ask me….. squire. She leant forward even more, making his eyes flash back downwards.

“No, I wanted to ask you, why it was so quiet in the room, normally the place is full of noise. ? What’s going on ?” Knowing he was going to regret this, he turned in his chair so he could look out into the room instead of looking directly at her, hoping that this would help him keep his mind, and eyes, off her .. assets.

She laughed, the sound of it seeming much louder of the quietness in the rest of the room. ”It’s you, squire Gordo, you are responsible for the silence. It was noisy enough before you entered. You are the first squire this kingdom has seen in many years.”

His eyebrows rose at this, surprised. Yes, it was a great honor, but really, it didn’t mean anything at all, not to him anyway. “Oh, well maybe you can help me with another problem I am having. I need to find a crafter to help me with a quest for the king, do you know where I can find one ?”

She pouted at him, then thought. “There are no crafters in the city, but I have heard there may be one in a small village to the south. I think the village is called Stonegate.”

“Thank you, Melaine, that’s just what I needed to know.” The news cheered him up, this was the first solid lead he had received. Melaine got up from the chair and retrieved her empty mugs. This reminded him of his own drink, so he took a sip from it, only to be interrupted by Melaine as she turned back to him.

“I can be yours for fifty gold, squire.” she said unexpectedly, then gave him another wink

“What ?” Gordo replied in shock, not believing what he had just heard.

“Fifty gold, squire, I can work for you for fifty gold a month. I hear you are looking for servants for the manor.” From her smile, he knew she had purposely said it wrong the first time, knowing exactly how he would have taken it.

He scowled at her, keeping his amusement at her trick to himself. Fifty gold a month was a bargain, the lowest he had seen in the house management section was one hundred gold a month, and that was for an inexperienced maid. He would have to take her offer seriously, plus it wouldn’t hurt to have something around the house that he could admire.

Tomorrow, he thought, I will have to find some players to help me with the zombies if I am to get to this village.