Morning arrived and a rooster’s crowing woke up Tripper. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and slowly sat up in bed. The dim blue light filtering in from the window through the curtains cut across the small space and landed on the chest at the foot of his bed.

Instead of silencing an alarm clock, Tripper opened up his character menu and checked his abilities and gear. He’d picked up enough materials to craft a makeshift cloak with some decent regeneration buffs for his mana, so he crafted the item and equipped [Woven Cloak of Spells], and increased his armor by a few points.

Then Tripper exited the room and locked it, changing the privacy ward to red while he was away. The room would remain locked to NPCs and players until he returned to it. He walked down stairs and back into the dining hall of the inn where his party waited for him, chowing down on breakfast sausages and fresh bread.

Tripper sat down with Z and Jag, Rae had not come down yet to join them. Z opens up his own HUD and contacts his sister with the in-game chat service.

“Hey, you gonna wake up and come down?” Z asked

Rae groans over the chat service, “Hold on,” she said, yawning as she woke up, “I’ll be down in a minute.”

A few minutes later, Rae walked down the stairs, sleepy but present. She sat down and her brother hands her a roll and a plate of eggs. Rae ignores both and reaches for a cup of hot tea. The waitress from the night before comes back and Jag stops mid-bite through a chunk of a sausage.

“Is there anything I can bring you?” the waitress asked sweetly.

Jag coughed. “Ale please, and your name,” he said.

She bowed, “Helena,” then left to find him a mug of ale.

“Really? Ale in the morning?” Rae asked.

“Not like we’re getting ID’d, are we? What’s a little ale in the morning instead of at night? Or both?” Jag shot back. He stuffed the rest of the sausage into his mouth whole and his cheeks bulged from the chunks of meat.

While the party ate, more players and some NPC traders filtered into the inn’s dining room from the bedrooms upstairs and the village outside. When they’d finished eating, they sat, reviewing maps of the area provided by the innkeeper. As they got up to leave, a quest beacon popped up on their HUD, showing a nearby NPC with a mission available.

“Do we want to take it?” Z asked as he looked at his party.

“Yes!” Rae squealed with excitement.

Jag and Tripper both nodded and stood up at the table, then the four of them each dropped a gold coin on the table and walked out to look for the quest holder.

As they stepped out of the inn and into Flickerton, they took in the small town’s humble buildings and dirt roads. A few shops were open and some vendors were advertising their items outside. Some carts slowly moved between stalls and shops to pick up delivery items. Children ran around the buildings and played tag while their parents worked.

The quest icon led them to the center of town as they followed their map and the flashing icon until they reached a small church just beyond the market area. The four adventurers stepped inside, a middle-aged man sat on a pew and faced an altar with incense burning on it.

The man was bowed in prayer, the quest icon floated over his head with his ID tag on it. His name was [Rusty Edler], and he was the mayor of the town. As the party approached the mayor, he turned around to face them. His eyes were sunken in with worry and the color of his skin looked like he had not been outside in days.

“Adventurers, I may not know you, but please, take pity on this old fool. I require your aid,” Rusty said. His voice was weary as if he had not slept. The quest icon remained over his head and blinked with a yellow light.

“We have come to offer our assistance,” Z said, playing the role of the knight.

The quest marker vanished, replaced with a line of text that read [Investigate the Nearby Farms].

“There’s a small village nearby that we trade with, but the village has not sent its usual supply of goods. When I sent some of my city’s militia to investigate, none came back. Please, save my men,” Rusty begged.

“We will accept the quest, but we’ll need a few things to take it. Can you provide materials for travel?” Z asked.

“In return for your assistance, the town of Flickerton will always provide lodgings and resources, and if you can bring any of my men back I will give you each two gold pieces for those you bring back safely,” Rusty said.

Z accepted the terms and the mayor shook hands with each one of them.

“Please,” Rusty said, “make haste, dark clouds loom on the horizon.”

Tripper led the party out and they stopped at the edge of the town. The quest marker for [Investigate the Nearby Farms] directed them to head northwest towards small sets of pastures and fields. Centered in each group of farmed plots were houses.

Z took the lead when they exited the city, his face was grim and determined. Rae was the opposite. She bounced with excitement about her first actual quest and spoke so quickly no one could quite make out her questions or answer them in time.

“Ohmygodthisissoexciting! We’re goingonaquestandwhatarewegonnadotomakeourselveswin? Is itjustasimplecaseofmonstersorisitatrap? Z! Z! Z!” she said in a rush.

“What?” Z asked and rolled his eyes.

“Aren’t you excited? I’m so excited! This is gonna be so cool! I wanna try out my passive now that it’s unlocked and I wanna see how yours all work so we can have some cool fights and get more levels and more spells and just—I don’t know! I’m so hyped up right now!” Rae screamed, then ran ahead.

“Be careful! We don’t know what’s up there yet Rae!” Tripper called after her before he ran to catch up.

“Lol, fucking noobs,” Jag said, then grabbed Z by the arm and dragged him up to go with the other two, “let’s go dude.”

After they caught up with Tripper and Rae, the four slowed down and surveyed the area as they went. Jag laid traps down to cover if the path if they had to escape and Tripper started casting wards on the party to protect them.

Eventually the party arrived at the small farms. The area was eerie and quiet. The trees and signs around the farm areas rustled slightly from a light breeze. The first farm they walked through was empty, the grass and fields were browned, as if caught in a drought. Z led the party through the pastures and towards the first house.

Jag took lead as they entered the house, his Eagle Eye vision gave him better scouting abilities. He lifted his right arm up with a fist to signal a stop, then whispered to his crossbow and shot a small dart across the doorway.

A small trail of purple mist followed the path of the dart, laying down a powdered path. The dust glowed faintly and Jag motioned to follow him into the small home. Jag fired a few more of his darts around the house before turning back to the party.

“Okay,” Jag whispered, “let’s split up a little. Sound off every ten minutes. Nobody try to fight if enemies pop up, just run down here. Call if there’s loot!”

Everyone nodded and then Jag grinned before he tumbled away and into another room. Tripper went upstairs, Rae followed while Z inspected other areas of the house.

The floorboards creaked as the two of them walked through the hall. They popped open a door with one of them ready to cast a spell in case of an enemy. At the end of the hall, they heard the floor creak when they had not moved and the two of them froze.

Tripper put his finger to his lips and Rae nodded before drawing her sword. She readied a frost spell in her other hand and Tripper prepped [Aegis] and [Ice Shard] in each hand. He kicked a door open and a fat barn cat yowled and ran out the door. Rae squeaked, then the two burst out laughing.

The two got ready to go back downstairs but Tripper noticed a faint glow coming from inside the room.

“Hold up, Rae,” Tripper said, “let’s check the room.”

He walked in slowly and his eyes widened with surprise.

“Chest!” he yelled.

Z and Jag ran up the stairs, their footsteps pounded the wooden boards. Once the party was reunited in the room with the chest, they opened it. Sparks flew from the metal and wooden box and an inventory menu opened for each of the players.

“This is fucking sweet!” Jag shouts. A small pile of gold sat at the bottom of the chest and a few bags of gear and provisions were laying on top. The party split the gold evenly and then opened the provisions, sharing out the food and potions as equally as they could.

At the bottom of the chest under the gold were ingots for smithing and a few gems for enchantments.

“Anyone going this route in their jobs?” Z asked.

“I was planning on checking out smithing and enchanting, yeah. Anyone else?” Tripper said.

No one else wanted to go for gear crafting. “I was gonna cook,” Jag said.

“Well, if you guys are good with it, I’ll take the ingots and gems for crafting. We’ll be able to pick profession soon,” Tripper said.

“Okay,” Rae said, “I should probably figure out which one I want to do.”

“You could pick dancer,” Jag teased.

“Shut up,” Rae said as she blushed.

“Let’s go check out the other farms,” Z said to get everyone focused on the quest again. The party left the house and moved over to the next farm. As they walked onto the next field, the party saw very quickly that something was wrong. The grass and fields smoldered, with wisps of smoke wafting lazily from the ground in patches. Some charred sections of grass were burnt down to the earth beneath.

“Holy hell,” Tripper whispered, “I guess we’re going the right direction?”

“Focus up and on me,” Z ordered, taking point. Jag took back row, both crossbows ready while Tripper took right flank and Rae left. Z hefted his shield and his sword and advanced slowly. When they got to the new farmhouse, they saw more signs of a struggle, blood drops were sprayed across the entryway but there were no bodies in sight.

Jag came forward at the entrance and fired the darts again and they followed the same process. Z and Jag checked the upstairs this time, Rae and Tripper covered the ground floor. Rae split off a few feet from Tripper to check another room and busted out immediately after.

“What is it?” Tripper asked.

“I think I found something,” Rae whispered. Tripper whistled to signal Jag and Z to come down. They came down slowly this time. A tension in the air gripped the four players as they advanced on the room that Rae had left.

The small room was barley visible underneath the amount of charcoal and blood left in the room. At the center was a small table with four hearts pierced into it by daggers and a pool of blood filled the room, running down the sides of the table. Where the blood congealed there was soot and charcoal, the floor still glowing lightly from a high heat fire.

“Let’s go,” Z said quietly, then turned to Tripper, “burn this place down.” Tripper nodded and began casting fire spells across the rooms and walls as they exited the home. Outside again, the party looked around. The closes farm to them going in the direction of their quest objective was still burning.

“This is still the quest, right?” Rae asked.

“Looks like it,” Z said, “don’t worry, this is going to be fine. A bit gross, but it’ll be fine.” Taking lead again, Z headed for the other farm and the party took up the same positions behind him.

The group approached slowly, sweat beading on their skin as anxiety filled their thoughts. The fire raged in the house and the scent of burning flesh and oil permeated the grounds. Rae and Jag both choked on smoke as they got closer to the house. The hairs on the back of Tripper’s neck stood on end and he readied [Aegis].

“Z,” Tripper said.

“Yeah,” Z answered, hunched low with his shield.

“Something’s coming. I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Tripper said.

“I feel it too,” Z said, “but I don’t think we can turn back yet.”

“Yeah, the loot and all, right?’ Jag laughed nervously.

The party pushed on, getting onto the plots surrounding the burning house. The fire had begun to spread to the fields as the building popped and cracked from the heat and flames. A low hum vibrated through the area and a pack of shadowy creatures flooded out of the house. The monsters began to circle the party in a cyclone, pushing them closer in.

Tripper cast [Aegis] across the party and pushed the spell outward to give them room to breathe. Jag fired a few shots into the smoke and something screeched. The smoke shifted and knights in black armor marched into view before the smoke solidified into demonic beasts with large claws and leathery skin.

The beasts had six legs, with two sets of clawed arms in the front and a forked, barbed tail whipping around behind them. Their four eyes were cloudy and they were covered with short bristles which slightly protruded from their skins. Drool hung from fanged canines jutting upward from their lower jaws.

A few of the black-armored knights approached behind the creatures. In their hands were chains formed of iron and dark magic, glowing a deep purple. The creatures, tagged as [Lesser Grims], glowed with the same purple light around their necks.

“We ready for this?” Jag asked, crossbows ready.

Rae was the first to strike, launching a fire spell at the knights in front of her as Z leapt into action. As Z landed in front of the knights, Tripper launched a spell called [Storm Shatter], shooting chain lightning in all directions from the point of impact and knocking back a few of the Lesser Grims and knights. Jag took a support position, firing bolts to finish off enemies as Z drew their aggression and Rae and Tripper hit wave after wave with spells.

The shadows around the fight cleared as the last of the enemies fell to Z and Rae’s blades and Jag and Tripper’s attacks. Around the farmlands, the party could see groups with knights lead monsters into farmers’ homes and screams echo inside.

They charged towards the next property, the adrenaline of the fight keeping them focused and ready to move. As they approached the next building, an explosion of dark energy ripped the house apart and a massive knight wielding a greatsword covered in ice-blue runes rode out on a skeletal horse.

A new quest opened on their HUDs, [Defeat Gorlois, Revenant Knight I]. The massive warrior was followed by dozens of black knights and Grims. Once the quest activated, the monstrous knight turned towards them, raised his sword and roared a challenge.

Over his head, his ID floated. His name was [Gorlois, the King of the Dead].

Z crouched down and his shield glowed. “Fortify,” he shouted, then jumped at Gorlois. He crashed toward the knight, his shield slammed into his horse and the horse staggered.

Gorlois swung his sword down, slashing fiercely at Z. His attacks glowed with a light, misty blue. Ice spread across the ground that his sword struck as Z dodged away. The horse regained its footing and lowered its head before the mounted Gorlois charged at the group of players.

Lesser Grims streamed away from the knights that lead them, charging with their master to attack the four players. Jag shot a volley of flaming bolts at them and they erupted in plumes of ash, dead.

“I want that sweet ass sword!” Z yelled as he blocked another blow from Gorlois. Tripper shot off another Storm Shatter, then cast Aegis.

“Is now the time?” Rae asked, launching a round of ice spells and parrying an attack from a knight.

“It’s always the time! I want that loot!” Z answered back, slashed once more at Gorlois, then body slammed the knight attacking his sister.

Tripper cast Pulse at a group of Grims, then whirled around with a Lightning Bolt to destroy a knight attacking Jag. Jag responded to another group of knights coming after them with a few trip wires, then threw a dagger into one of the knight’s faces.

The knight went down in a shower of pixels and he turned to fire a few shots at Gorlois while Z jumped away to regenerate mana for a few seconds. Tripper took lead in front, cast Aegis over the group, then dual-cast Storm Shatter on Gorlois.

The dark warrior deflected the attack with his sword and flung the spell aside. Gorlois raised his hand and curled his fist toward the sky. A dark magic erupted from the ground and some of the slain warriors rose to their feet, swords in hand, then launched themselves at the party.

Z shouted, then activated a spell, coating his sword in holy light. His attacks burned the resurrected knights.

All of a sudden, Jag shouted behind the rest of the party. One of the few remaining knights that had spawned with Gorlois had managed to get behind them and knocked him over with a well-placed kick to the chest. The shot he had tried to fire to kill the knight fired away harmlessly into the air.

Rae yelled and jumped over him to strike with her sword and fought him back while Jag tried to rise to his feet. A small haze of gray mist hung on him where the knight had kicked him and his health started to sink more quickly than from earlier attacks.

Tripper ran over to Jag while Z retreated to where the rest of them were. The last of the knights died to Rae and Tripper’s spells and Jag managed to get to his feet. Z had killed Gorlois’s horse and now only the warlord remained. An unearthly glow rose around the knight and a weighted pressure hung in the air around him.

Z clutched his sword tightly and the rest of his party turned to face Gorlois. Spells hummed in Tripper and Rae’s hands and Jag loaded his crossbows with a broad-headed ammo. A tension filled the space between the players and their opponent and the chaos of the battlefield grew still and silent with the loss of Gorlois’s soldiers.