As I walked between the trees on the snow covered ground, I marveled at the simple fact that I was walking. Simply walking, no brace, no cane, and most importantly, no pain. At least not what I would consider pain. I did feel a dull ache in my leg from time to time, all located in the same problem areas I was used to, but the aches only came on in short spurts and they would go away as quickly as they appeared. This must be the phantom pain Dr. Lambert said I might experience.

A part of me wondered if it was just my subconscious mind telling me that the weather was going to turn. My leg had been worse than most days when I woke up, which was normally the case in the winter when a heavy storm was about ready to roll through the area. Looking up at the sky through a break in the trees, I could see dark clouds a ways off to the west, though the sun was still shining through a partially cloudy sky.

Even if there wasn’t a storm later today, I wouldn’t be able to stay out in the current weather without appropriate winter gear. As it was, the simple rough spun clothing I started with wasn’t doing anything to insulate my body and my boots did very little to keep my feet warm. I was hopeful that I would either be given winter appropriate gear during the tutorial, or that I would at least have the ability to easily buy some if need be.

I tried to keep my mind off the cold as I walked north towards the Iron Road that would take me straight to town. Walking at a brisk pace, I did my best to try and detect if any creatures were in the area. I still didn’t have any idea what kind of animals or monsters would appear in the valley forest, and I really wanted to avoid being ambushed by anything while I was walking around without any armor or weapons. Outside of a few birds, and one rabbit that I hadn’t seen until I almost stepped on it, I didn’t see or sense any creature.

After almost ten straight minutes of walking through the snow, I finally reached the trail. It was easy to make out since it had been traveled over at least sparingly since the last snowfall. Almost as soon as I reached the road, a notification popped up.

Advanced Skill Learned - Mobility: Snow/Ice, Common, LVL 1

You gain increased balance and movement speed in terrain covered in either snow or ice.

+1% to balance on snow/ice per skill level. +.5% to movement speed on snow/ice per skill level.

It looks like picking mobility as one of my basic skills to train in was already paying off. Even though I had only walked maybe half a mile through the snow, it was enough to already unlock a common skill that helped improve my balance and movement speed in winter environments. While I only received a small buff at level 1, it could give me a marked advantage against other martial characters while out in the snow once it reached higher levels. It appeared to also stack with the two unranked basic mobility skills, Balance and Agility, which gave me small boosts to my general balance and movement speed based on their levels. These unranked skills were what tipped me off to how important the mobility skill would be, and were why I selected mobility over others.

Receiving my first natural skill unlock really helped to boost my spirits. With my experience spawning into the game and then learning I may have to log out soon, my mood had soured without me really realizing it. Taking advantage of the fact that I was now traveling over the trail leading to Jadestone instead of having to navigate through the forest, I began to pick up the pace.

Initially, I just started to jog through the snow, kicking up clouds of snow as I went. Eventually, I lost myself to the feeling and I started to run full bore. I hadn’t been able to move like this since before the accident. Memories of Lara, Brian, and I running around in my parent’s backyard during a snow day instantly came to my mind. In my memory, Lara was screaming as Brian tried to catch her and dump a handful of snow down the back of her coat. I was chasing after him to try to wrestle him to the ground for picking on my little sister. Mom was standing at the back door with a cup of coffee, just smiling at all of us.

My mind had drifted too far, and I wasn’t paying attention. My foot came out from under me and I fell to the ground, my momentum taking my body as I slid several feet before I came to a stop. I spit snow out of my mouth as I got back to my feet. I couldn’t help but start laughing as I got back on the road and started jogging again.

Checking my skills, I could see my new advanced skill was improving at a steady pace, already over a quarter of the way to level 2 while my unranked mobility skills had about half as much progress. I expected the early skill levels to come easily, especially when it came to mobility, since I would always be out and moving around. It also seemed like moving faster increased the skill experience I earned. Even though I was interested in getting these skills up to at least level 2 or 3 before the day was over, I decided to keep my run to a light jog to avoid another spill.

Keeping that pace that I set, I eventually came into the view of the town down at the end of the trail. When I had read the initial description of Jadestone, I had created a mental image of a frontier town with a few small buildings and a wooden palisade. What I saw far exceeded my expectations. The forest surrounding the town had been cleared away for at least 100 yards in all directions around the town. It was also surrounded by a 15 foot high stone wall which had a palisade running its whole length, with squat square log towers located every few hundred feet. Just past the wall, I could make out the roofs of a few dozen buildings, some of which must have been at least two stories tall.

Within seconds of leaving the forest, the sound of two bell tolls came from the direction of the small gatehouse. I could see several figures running across the wall and taking up positions behind the battlements. Before I could even make it halfway across the clearing and figure walked from the gatehouse to meet me. Before me stood a dark-haired dwarf with a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken one too many times. He wore a gleaming breastplate and had a wicked looking battle-ax holstered on his hip.

He stared me up and down with an annoyed look on his face before speaking. “If I can trust you orcs to do anything, it would be to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. You know, I told them this would happen. The priestess gives us a decree directly from the Pantheon itself, and we have an Orc trying to sneak into town just two days later.” He waved his hand at me, like he was dismissing a child. “Time to turn around and go back to your war band before Rurik hears of this.”

“Look, I’m just a bit confused and I don’t know how to explain this properly, but I’m supposed to be here,” I said.

The dwarf just rolled his eyes. “We both know you orcs shouldn’t be anywhere in the valley. Mayor Dotsk doesn’t take a decree from the Pantheon lightly. He won’t go against the gods and redeclare his kill on sight order for your kind until they give him leave to do so, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be giving your lot free reign of the town or the territory. If you don’t leave, I’ll have the legal right to declare you a trespasser on Vitis lands. At that point, Pantheon or not, there would be nothing holding the mayor back from having you killed.”

The situation was starting to make sense to me. Apparently, even though the developers had patched the game and changed all race relations with the town from hostile to hated, the town's mayor had created a new law that barred orcs from the town. It made sense, if the NPCs were designed to be free thinking digital individuals, they would certainly find a way to skirt around orders, even ones given by the gods of their world. What surprised me was that the developers had not expected something like this to happen, which led me to believe that there was more to this that I wasn’t seeing.

At this point, I was unsure what to do. I’m sure I could just log out and have my account reset, but if I did so, I wouldn’t be able to get back into the game for several days, maybe not until Monday. A part of me also liked the idea of having such an early challenge that I would have to overcome. While I didn’t know how the quest and reward system really worked in the game, I was certain of one thing. The higher the challenge, the bigger the reward.

While I was determined to stick with the character I had, I was still at a loss as to what I could say to convince the dwarf in front of me to let me enter the town. I was confident that the game's NPCs were designed to ignore any metagaming on the part of the players, so I had to think of a way to convince him by using information that he would understand. The only thing that I knew for sure was that even though the NPCs didn’t view us as players, that didn’t mean that they didn’t recognize us as something important.

“I am Erik Uloth, an Outworlder. I am supposed to meet with someone here in town with the title of Counselor.” I said as calmly and confidently as I could.

Realization slowly dawned on the dwarf’s face as his annoyed look quickly flashed to one of anger. Though he was clearly upset, he now spoke with an emotionless tone. “The Pantheon has decreed that all Outworlders are to be assisted upon their arrival to Jadestone. However, the Mayor has ordered that under no circumstance are Orcs allowed entry to the town.” The dwarf stared up at the western sky for a few moments before he slowly nodded his head. “Uloth the Orc, I am Vondal Rumn, Captain of the Guard here in Jadestone. I will need you to come with me to my office.”

Seeing the dwarfs offer as my only chance to gain entry to the town and start my quest, I accepted. Vondal turned and began to walk back towards the gate as I followed behind. As we walked through the gate and into town, we were met by half a dozen guards and twice as many towns folk, all of whom had a look of distaste on their faces. Vondal quickly told the citizens to go back about their business and the guards were instructed to send any other citizens back to their homes if they came to see what the commotion had been about.

I was escorted by two other dwarven guards on either side of me while Vondal led me towards his office. The captain's office was only a few short blocks from the gatehouse. It was a stone block building built right next to the town's walls and it was connected to an even larger building, which I assumed was the guard’s barracks. As we approached the building, I was led inside while the guards remained at the door.

The office was a large open space with animal furs laid down along the wood plank floor. A desk and chair were located in one of the back corners while the rest of the room was filled with simple furniture. The dwarf motioned for me to sit in a chair next to the hearth, which had a small fire currently burning inside.

“You are to stay put in this room while I meet with the mayor,” Vondal stated in an authoritarian tone. “Under no circumstance are you to leave this room until I return, the guards will be at the door to ensure you stay put. If you attempt to leave, you will be deemed a danger to the town and imprisoned. Do I make myself clear?”

Seeing no viable alternative, I nodded my head in agreement. As Vondal left the room, I wondered if I had made a mistake by simply agreeing to follow him into town. He hadn’t promised that I would be taken to my Tutorial Counselor, whoever that was, and for all I knew, I had just been arrested under the pretense of some trumped up charge that would end with my beheading. As much as I didn’t like the idea, I was at Vondal’s mercy and all I could do was hope that he would return with good news.

While I was contemplating the choice I had made, a notification appeared in my vision.

You have a chat response from System Tech

ST-Liam: Some good news, bad news. The good news first. The nurse just showed up to the building. We’ll start working in 5 hours shifts on our end until the roads clear and we get relieved.

Erik: I’m glad they made it in safe. What's the bad news?

ST-Liam: No one from your group will be in tomorrow to start logging in. The travel advisory is being raised to a level 2, and they’re saying it’ll be level 3 before midnight. Roads will be shut down for at least the next couple of days.

Erik: Alright, thanks for the heads up.

Well, everything just seemed to be going wrong. Now I was going to be stuck in the game by myself. While I hadn’t met anyone from the testing team yet and I didn’t know how well we would get along as an adventuring party, I couldn’t help but think that everything would be going at least a bit smoother if I had spawned in with someone else. Though it was nice to hear that I would at least be able to continue to play throughout the weekend. I would likely need all the time I could get my character on a solid footing after having such a rough start.

Over the next half an hour I sat in the chair trying to think of a plan of action if worse came to worse and I was arrested. As I came up with a few options that I ultimately knew would likely end in failure, I heard Vondal approach the door, but he wasn’t alone. I could just make out a female voice on the other end, talking in a quick and angry voice. The argument was hard to make out, but I was able to pick up at least a few words here and there. I heard orcs mentioned more than once, and something to do with the woman's husband and… I think her son.

As the door opened I could just hear Vondal clearly say, “Kat, I know it's hard, but I need you to please go home and see to your little one. I know it’s hard to stomach, but I promise you this is the best way forward.”

The door suddenly burst open and Vondel was pushed through by a stout dwarven woman with fiery red hair tied up into a loose and ragged bun. With fire in her eyes, she turned to me, “You murderous green demon! First, you and your kind take my man from me, and now…”

“Kat, that is ENOUGH!” Vandal shouted, face turning red hot. “You will leave this room NOW! Boys! Escort Mrs. Baldurk back to her home. Move it!” Two other dwarven guards, both human, came into the room and took the woman by her shoulders, and guided her from the office.

As she walked through the door, she turned back to me. “Don’t you hurt my boy! Please just don’t hurt my boy!” she cried.

I just blinked at the scene in front of me, confused as to what had happened. Vandal slammed the door shut behind the woman before removing a leather backpack from his shoulder. Rubbing his face in his hands, he walked over to his desk and pulled out a leather pouch before he came over to sit across from me.

“So, can you tell me what that was about?” I asked. Vandal was quiet for several moments as he dug into his pouch, eventually producing a couple of cigarettes that looked to be wrapped in some sort of leaf. Taking the offered smoke, I gave it a quick sniff. It was definitely some form of tobacco, but the leaf had a smell to it similar to mint.

Vandal struck a sulfur match, lighting both our cigarettes before he spoke. “That was Kathra. Her husband was killed returning from working the iron mine in the north edge of the valley about a month back. He was with six others, including his foreman, Mayor Dotsk’s son. I think you can guess who killed them.” He said in an almost bored tone.

I let out a sigh. “It was orcs,” I said, everything suddenly making sense. Vondal nodded as we sat in silence for a few moments smoking.

“She has two boys, a newborn and a youngster around 10 or so. Her oldest took the loss of his Pa even harder than she did. He keeps running off to who knows where out in the forest. Normally he comes back on his own, but he’s been out longer than usual.”

I took a final drag off the cigarette before flicking it into the fire and meeting Vandal’s eyes. “So then why was she telling me to not hurt him.”

“Cause she was at the mayor's house demanding to know why an orc had been let into town before I even got there, and she was in the room when he made his decision. Mr. Uloth, I’m afraid you will have to leave.”