Suara stood with Xander at the little wheat farm. The dirt road continued past the farmhouse following a stretch of land sandwiched between the bay and the river. The way to Goblin Valley. A strong breeze carrying the saltiness of the sea tugged at her dress.

Ghol Duran finally appeared in the distance. He came from the Spawning Square, hurrying to meet them.

“Took him long enough,” Xander said impatiently.

“I wonder if he was meeting with Lady Ariastira again,” she shrugged.

Xander looked at her. “Ariastira? That uh…”

“She wore a red dress at my trial,” Suara said. “Ghol was there when I met her. He said he was trying to be her friend.”

“Gah, he’s such a…” He trailed off as Ghol came into earshot.

The green bunny-man wore a long-sleeved white tunic and a short blue cloak.

“Been busy, Ghol?” Xander asked.

Suara turned and walked away immediately. She had so much to do in Goblin Valley and only one day to do it. The boys were still talking behind her.

“There’s a lot to do in this game,” Ghol answered dismissively.

Xander laughed nervously. “Yeah… well let’s get going, Suara is getting impa—hey!”

She quickened her pace as they jogged up next to her.

The grass began to shift to a crispy brown as they crossed the border of Wreathmill into goblin territory. The valley was between twin mesas she could see in the distance, at the start of an arid region that turned the whole horizon red. One of the mesas was twice the height of the other, but both were quite tall.

The road was well-travelled by other parties, and Suara kept to the right side of the road to stay out of their way as they hurried by. Many of the groups wore simple clothes, some even still wore rags, but just as many were in elaborate outfits that held her attention as they walked by.

“High level players come through here too?” Suara asked.

Xander nodded. “Yeah, although they’re not interested in goblins most likely. Sometimes a high level player will come to farm the Goblin Card for completionist’s sake, but usually they’re just passing through into the Xeric Flatlands. Orc territory.”

“Oh!” Suara clapped her hands together. “Are orcs fun?”

Ghol snorted.

“They’ll bite your limbs off and eat them while you watch.” Xander said. “Only hardcore players even think about the Xeric Flatlands.”

“My cousin tried going there,” Ghol added. “He doesn’t play anymore.”

“Ew!” Suara shuddered. Even with respawning she didn’t think she had the stomach for that.

A settlement sat at the base of the larger mesa. Players hastily made preparations before entering Goblin Valley, buying potion cards from merchants, checking their gear and even forming new parties. The settlement was guarded by a perimeter of sharp cheval de frise. Suara held her arms close as they walked past them.

“I suggest you buy some potions, Suara.” Ghol said. “I know you have some healing spells, but they’re probably not going to be enough. Plus, you can only use your healing skills on an individual once per hour, right?”

Suara tilted her head. “I have healing skills?”

The bunny-man made a wheezing sound as he turned to look at Xander. “I told you, man… she has no—”

“It’s fine!” he interrupted. “Look, just check your skills on our way. They’re not complicated at all so just read them and check the cooldown. Remember the cooldown is per person though.”

Suara opened her menus and flipped around until she found the skills he was talking about.

Accolyte Skills

Name

Description

Level

Cooldown

Lay on Hands

Restore 200 HP to the person touched.

3

58.2 minutes

Neutralise Poison

Purge one poison from the target.

5

58.2 minutes

“Oh!” she smiled. “That’s fun! I didn’t know I could do that.”

“Well you’re a member of the church,” Ghol said, “It makes sense you can heal people, right? Every class gets skills to use out of battle. Cards are just for fighting.”

“Ghol is an adventurer, so he gets tools. I’m a rogue, so I can Hide… better than you could by just crouching behind something, anyway, and my weapon cards get a critical chance if I hit from behind. Your faction quests will often require you to use them.”

“Oh that’s very cool,” Suara said excitedly. She couldn’t wait for them to get hurt so she could heal them. Goblin Valley might be more fun than she thought. “Maybe when I find the missing acolyte tomorrow she’ll need some healing.”

Xander nodded and pointed her to a general goods merchant. She spent all her remaining gold on five potions. She frowned at that. It felt wrong to spend the last of her gold.

“A hundred gold is like a dollar,” the elf explained. “Don’t frown about it so much.”

Potions could be used in or out of battle, so she only added two to her deck.

“I’m ready!” she declared. She marched forward without hesitation. Everyone in Wreathmill—the handful of people she knew at least—would respect her after today. She was so focused on the path ahead that when a popup appeared before her she closed it accidentally before seeing what it was.

Party invite declined.

“S—can you wait a second?” Xander sounded frustrated.

“Just send it again, I’m not stopping anymore!” she called back.

She heard him sigh just behind her. “Are you trying to get killed?”

“I don’t have to try to get killed, Xander!”

His voice sounded farther away now. “You have to speak to the Spirit Shepherd if you want to respawn here!”

She stopped. When she turned around, he was with a woman in a white gown sitting under a white canopy that bore the symbol of the church, a unicorn horn over the waxing crescent moon. It would save her time if she got killed again. But… if she got killed she would fail the quest. There was no way she would allow that to happen. So it didn’t matter.

“I don’t need it!” she said. “If I die, I lose anyway. Not happening.”

They caught up with her as she walked through the narrow passage between the mesas.

Party Invite

Xander and Friends

DECLINE ACCEPT

When she accepted the invite their HP bars appeared over their heads when she focused her attention on them. It didn’t do anything else that she noticed.

The stone walls quickly widened into the Valley proper, with another set of cheval de frise guarding the path on both sides. The valley was filled with encampments protected by short stone walls or makeshift barricades. Goblins were sitting at fires within, cooking, dancing, or deeper in, being killed by players.

A goblin atop the nearest wall called out the threat of approaching players. A group of four in simple gear, led by a human in bulky, rusted armour. He inched forward with his shield up while an elvish archer drew her bow and waited behind him. The other two looked like adventurer’s by their plain clothes, and they drew their cards in anticipation.

The goblins leaped to attention. They waved their clubs and daggers around with a chorus of screeches. Goblin archers appeared in openings in the mesa walls. The dark tunnels dotted the sides as far as Suara could see.

“Oh!” she said. “Those archers are dangerous.”

The goblins attacked first. The volley of arrows they unleashed felled the elven archer and one of the adventurer’s outright. They collapsed in bloody heaps with arrows sticking out of them in every direction.

Suara stepped forward, but Xander caught her wrist and held her back.

“Don’t, you’ll pick up their aggro.”

She tugged her arm free. It would be reckless to rush in now. They had less to lose than she did. The elven archer twitched, and then reached up to pull an arrow out of her chest. Suara clenched her fists. She didn’t care; she wasn’t just going to let them get killed without trying. The encampment walls would shelter them from the arrows… they could do it!

Her fingers flashed as she ran forward and opened her balled fist to draw her cards. Lesser Regeneration appeared on her thumb. The others were Defiant Against Death, Single Elemental Mana: Light, Elemental Infusion: Light, and Will o’ the Dark.

They were not the cards she was hoping to get, but they would have to do.

She cast the Infusion to enchant herself with mana she might need later. Two orbs or Light bloomed in front of her and started orbiting her at shoulder height.

She tossed the Will o’ the Dark up into the only passage that had two goblin archers lurking in its shadows. The little spirit popped into existence and splat itself into the goblin’s face, staining its eyes with a lingering puff of black smoke. The goblin screamed and its bow fell down the wall as it raised its hands to rub soot from its eyes. In its panic it stepped over the edge and tumbled down the wall, knocking its head multiple times and dying at the bottom with its limbs splayed.

“Suara!” Xander yelled after her.

Suara didn’t turn to look. She had to keep an eye on as many goblins as possible, and there were at least a dozen to follow. Three leaped down to bang their swords against the soldier’s heavy shield, but another snuck around him and plugged the gap in his armour with its blade. He cried out as blood squirted out from between the metal plates.

Suara cast Lesser Regeneration on him so his next two draws or casts would heal him a tiny bit.

An arrow flew over her head and struck a goblin from the wall. It tumbled out of sight with a squeak. Ghol dashed forward brandishing a scimitar and sliced a pair of goblins in two while the remaining adventurer helped his elven friend to her feet.

She kicked a goblin in the chest and it toppled onto its back. Her unarmed strike dealt it a measly twenty-three damage. She gave it another.

An arrow sprouted from her shoulder, causing a flash of pain. She dove over the encampment wall for cover and tugged it free. The thirty-six damage it dealt her wasn’t worrying, and the pain faded quickly.

The two lights on her fingers flashed signalling her chance to draw. She touched her thumb to her palm and came up with something she’d hoped for in her first hand.

Suara vaulted back over the low wall. The dead adventurer lay face down with a back full of arrows. She pulled the Pneuma card from her left hand and her orbs of Light floated into it. The card vanished with a flash. A divine wind blew through the valley. It settled across his body and he began to stir as a hundred of his hit points were restored.

The soldier man was still holding on, his iron sword striking a goblin clubber and failing to bring it down. A few goblins lay dead with arrows in them, and the openings in walls were quiet now. Ghol swung a grappling hook over his head. With a skillful toss it stuck a goblin’s ear and he dragged it screaming and flailing underneath him, where it died beneath the stomp of his metal greaves.

The armoured adventurer finally killed his goblin, and the Valley was quiet except for the chittering in the distance. Xander’s bow and Ghol’s greaves vanished as combat ended.

EXP Received

10

To Next

1088

Card Received

Iron Dagger

Suara bent over and took a deep breath. “Ten experience points for all that?”

“We’re too high for goblins, Suara. Wait until we start fighting hobgoblins.”

The party of four she saved were brushing themselves off and pulling arrows out of their wounds. “Thank you,” the armoured man said.

“It’s a little embarrassing needing to be saved… but respawning in that crowded camp would be worse, so yeah, thanks.” The elven archer nodded politely as she lowered herself back to the ground and sat holding the wounds in her chest.

“Why don’t you bring a healer with you? I’m not even very good but it seemed to help.”

“Nobody wants to be a healer,” the adventurer said as tried unsuccessfully to reach the arrows sprouting from his back. “Besides the whole impalement thing being an all around bad time, healers are the ones everyone blames when something goes wrong, it’s harder than attacking things, and it’s less fun.”

“At least tanking makes you feel invincible.” the armoured man added. “Healing just sucks for the person doing it. So you know, some love it, but they’re a minority.”

“Well it feels good when people are grateful that you helped them,” Suara said. She shot Xander a cold look. The puzzle of why he told her to join the church and left her there was starting to come together. “And if people decide to be rude to me every time something bad happens then they can play without me. I don’t need a healer, but if they aren’t nice, they will.”

Ghol shook his head. “You’d think healers would have more authority with how sought after they are, but because their damage is low they rely on everyone else too.”

“I don’t care.” Suara asserted. “I’m not playing with anyone who isn’t nice to me.”

She kneeled next to the adventurer and pulled the arrows out for him, then touched him with her hand. Her desire for him to be healed brought a warm glow to her fingers, and two hundred hit points were restored to him. She did the same for the others.

Just hearing about people’s nasty attitudes made her angry. She would play with Xander and Ghol, or she would play by herself, but she would never play with people like that.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the challenge ahead. Goblin Valley was just getting started, and by the way it opened up further in, and the obvious presence of tunnel systems within the mesas, she knew it was going to be tricky.

And fun.