Tired, I dropped down on the bench next to the table, my weight causing the wood to groan in protest. The stress of the fight was still tearing its way through my body, but more than that, I could feel guilt eating away at me. I had killed someone. Yes, he was an NPC, a character created for my amusement, but it didn’t feel that way. He felt real, just like Tak felt real, just like this table and my armor felt real. I know I had just “killed” computer code, and that it didn’t matter, but that feeling that I had done something wrong still conflicted with my mind telling me that this was all just a game.

Looking over to Tak, he was struggling even more than I was. Picking up the clay pot at his feet, he walked over to his bunk, snake in tow, and sat back down on his bunk. To me, Geoff was just a piece of shit who I had caught doing something unspeakable, who had proven himself to be, if not evil, then morally corrupt. To Tak, he was just Geoff, guard of Jadestone, a guy he had probably known his entire young life.

Tired and beat, with at least one minor bleed debuff still mending itself, I went ahead and reviewed my awaiting prompts from the battle. While I was conflicted about what had happened, I knew what I had earned, and if I was being honest with myself, I was excited.

You have killed the NPC ‘Geoff’ a LVL 5 Scout for 260* XP

*You share a portion of your XP with Tak and ? the Whipsnake. You receive a +10% boost to XP earned due to your Quest “Secure the Mine”. You receive a +30% XP boost due to your level difference.

Congratulations! You have leveled up!

At level 3, you may select your permanent class. This class will replace your starter class. All stats, traits, and training you received when selecting your starting class will either be retained, or it will be altered to match your new class. You will be unable to earn character XP until you have selected a permanent class. You will be able to select a subclass related to your permanent class when you reach level 5. You have 10 stat points to distribute.

I also quickly checked my skills notifications to find that my Powerful Kick attack had also leveled up to level 2. While I was excited to finally get to pick my permanent class, I knew it was more important to get Goeff’s body out of the bunkroom and outside. I didn’t like the idea of casually combing through my character sheet while standing over a corpse, but more than that I didn’t want Tak to have to stay in the same room as the body longer than he currently has.

Before I drug his body from the room, I picked up Goeff’s dagger and hand axe that were laying next to him on the floor, which I placed next to the bow that was laying on the table. He must have placed it there when he first entered the room. Grabbing him by the ankles, I then proceeded to drag him from the room, closing the door behind me as best as I could with its shattered latch and cracked frame.

Once I had his body out of sight of Tak, I started the gruesome business of stripping his corpse of anything that I found useful. While most of his gear would be an immediate upgrade over what I was currently using, I unfortunately wouldn’t be able to make use of his chest or leg armor. While dwarfs and orcs were of similar size when it came to width, our severe difference in height made it impossible for me to salvage and use those pieces of armor. Luckily, we shared a similar size in footwear, and his hands and head were no smaller than my own, allowing me to acquire leather and fur armor pieces for each body part.

Treated Leather Armor (Above Average, Common)

Type: Light

Condition: 60/60 (averaged between set pieces)

Weight: 5 LBS

Armor: 8-9

Current Set: 2 of 5 (Hands, Feet)

Treated leather is a more durable and flexible form of leather that has received additional alchemical treatment during the tanning process.

Hooded Fur Cloak (Wolf Pelt) (Above Average, Common)

Type: Light

Weight: 3 LBS

Armor: 7-8

Current Set: 1 of 5 (Head)

This hooded cloak offers the wearing an additional layer of protection along their back in addition to any armor they wear under the cloak.

The boots and gloves were spotless, though the grey fur of the cloak had a smattering of blood that had leaked into the fur. Geoff also had a fine looking leather belt, his hip quiver, a few tools, two rings, and two packs filled with an assortment of gear and supplies. I also found two odd items. The first was a large iron key attached to a leather cord that hung around his neck, which was sitting next to a silver necklace. The other item was a pin that was located under the collar of his undershirt. Not wanting to sort through every single thing in the cold hallway, I wrapped all the smaller items up in the cloak and carried everything back into the bunkroom, placing it all on the table.

Opening the cloak back up, I pulled out one of the tools I had taken off Goeff’s belt, a skinning knife. The knife I had did an adequate job of skinning creatures since it was a multipurpose tool that could be used for multiple jobs. The skinning knife, being specially made for a specific task, gave me a +10% chance to receive a higher quality pelt. Not wanting to resecure the front door to the mine to only have to open it back up in a few hours, I went ahead and started to skin the wolves from earlier. With the new tool, improved skill, and the boosts I received from Liebhel, I managed to produce two above average pelts of uncommon rarity.

Laying the pelts back down next to the fire to dry, I took the time to drag the corpses, both wolves and dwarf, outside of the mine, dumping them against the rock face a few feet away from the entrance. On the ground next to the gates was the piece of rope I used to secure the doors the first time, which had been cleanly cut by Geoff. Taking out more rope, I retied the doors, knowing that I would need to come up with a more defensible option sooner rather than later.

Geoff had likely been close enough that he could just make out our tracks as they were filled in by the storm. If anyone had been sent after he left, they were likely lost in what was shaping up to be a strong blizzard. I doubted we would be bothered by any more of Vondal’s goons until the storm passed.

All of this still begged the question. Why did Vondal want me dead? I didn’t know anyone in town, and no one from Jadestone had any reason to like me. From what I saw, plenty of the citizens would have been happy to see me hang for no other reason than I was an orc. Except for Vondal. He hadn’t been kind, or even polite, but there had never been a hint of anger or vitriol in his voice when we spoke. I would have assumed that this Mayor Dotsk was behind ordering Captain Vondal to send someone after me, but the way Goeff spoke made it clear to me that it was simply Vondal who had sent him.

To make matters more confusing, he had been specifically told by Vondal to kill Tak if we came across each other and he had known that I wouldn’t respawn if I died. While I didn’t know how common that type of knowledge was in Hazelsong, one of the literal gods of this game came and gave me that piece of information in person, making me feel like very few people would know what kind of predicament I was in.

All of it was just a bit too much for me at the moment. Who was behind sending Geoff and why didn’t really matter in the short term. All I knew is that I couldn’t trust anyone from Jadestone for the time being, and by extension, neither could Tak. Whatever I was being hunted for, he was now considered collateral damage.

With Tak in mind, I walked back to the bunkroom to check on him. I found him on his bunk where I had left him, though he was now laying down staring up at the ceiling, the snake coiled on his chest. I walked over and sat on his bed next to his legs.

“Are you ok?” I asked. I was more worried about his mental well being, but I also wanted to make sure he wasn’t hiding an injury.

“I’m… I’m not hurt. He just choked me a little,” he said with a quiver in his voice as he continued to stare up at the stone ceiling. I reached over to push his collar out of the way to get a look at his neck, when the whipsnake reared back its head letting out a threatening hiss, refusing to settle back down until I moved my hand away.

“So, does your new friend have a name?” I asked, still a bit taken aback at how important the serpent had been in the fight. Based on Goeff’s reaction to being bitten by the otherwise harmless snake, I had to assume he had some sort of phobia towards the creature, something Tak probably knew.

“Oh, ya. This is Tim. I found him right before…” Tak went silent for a few seconds. I waited patiently for him to continue, knowing that he was reliving what had just happened. “I’m going to work on getting him to bond with me as an animal companion.” As he said this, he pulled out a small strip of jerky from his pocket, feeding it to Tim. I quickly looked back over the snake’s information.

Tim the Whipsnake - LVL 2

Bonded: In Progress, ?% of 100%

Whipsnakes are a nonvenomous species of snake native to most mountain ranges throughout Hazelsong. Whipsnakes are rarely known to be aggressive unless highly agitated or threatened. They make surprisingly good mousers in place of cats.

Since Tak was in the process of bonding with the snake while not having a character class, I had to assume that he was using a skill from the Animal Handling skill tree. I had assumed that he was trained in Mobility based on how he moved through the forest and this seemed to confirm my suspicions that the NPCs became trained in skill trees and leveled up their skills in a similar fashion to players. I could tell that Tak was level 2 by reviewing his information, so he was likely trained in about four or five different skill trees.

“Tak, I’m gonna finish looking through some things Geoff had on him and then turn in for the night. You should try and get some sleep too, unless there’s anything you want to talk about.” I said.

Tak continued to silently lay in bed, though he had a look on his face as if he were considering something. As if he made up his mind, Tak sat up and leaned back against the wall, holding Tim in his hands.

“Is it true you're an Outworlder, like Geoff said?” he asked me.

“Ya, I am,” I said. I had been hesitant to share who I really was with Tak, not knowing what kind of response I would get. “That’s fine right?”

“Of course it’s fine! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I would have felt a lot more at ease knowing you were an Outworlder, I wouldn’t have avoided you so much.” he said excitedly

“I didn’t say anything earlier because when I told Vondal in Jadestone, it didn’t go over so well. It got me into town, but no one really cared all that much that I was an Outworlder.”

Tak looked at me with a confused look. “What do you mean? Everyone in town should have been happy to finally have an Outworlder. Even an Orc Outworlder.”

It was my turn to look confused. “No, they really didn’t care who I was, being an Orc was enough. The mayor exiled me, Vondal gave me a bag of supplies to make sure they were in compliance with the Pantheon’s decree, and then they kicked me out. Hell, I’m not even supposed to be here right now.”

“That's… that's not right.” Tak said. “Mayor Dotsk hates Orcs more than anyone in town, no offense, but even he would have tolerated an Orc Outworlder.”

“But why?” I asked. “What makes being an Outworlder so important that you think they would have let me stay? The only thing that makes Outworlders different from everyone else is that we’re… immortal I guess. I can see the benefit of having an immortal adventure around to do dangerous work, but is that really enough for people who hate me simply because I’m an Orc?”

“It's complicated,” Tak said, his face taking on that look every kid has when they're trying to think. “It's not that you can’t die, though I guess you can somehow. It's about the Pantheon’s Prophecy. According to Sister Dorthy who's in charge of the town's temple, the Pantheon told everyone hundreds of years ago that a lot of your kind would come to our planet and change it somehow. It never really made much sense to me, but that's what everyone believes. What I do know is that any kingdoms that have had Outworlders appear have either avoided some form of danger or grown in power.”

“That still doesn’t change the fact that he kicked me out of town. The mayor wouldn’t even talk to me in person.” I said in response.

“You didn’t talk to him in person? Then who did you talk to?” Tak asked.

“Vondal. He walked out and met me before I reached the town. He tried telling me to leave before I told him I was an Outworlder.” I said, trying to recall what he said to me exactly before I told him.

“So who else did you tell?” Tak asked, giving me a weird look.

“No one. Vondal brought me into town, locked me in his office, and went to talk to the Mayor…” I said, slowly trailing off as I realized what had happened. Tak just looked at me, slowly shaking his head.

“That mother f…”