Isaiah’s heart hurt because he sensed that Light was worried for him. She seemed to want to keep him safe and away from the evil players. Light is a pacifist. She wasn’t out there in the arena practicing player killer strats like White Falcon and Zeal. Light was the grandma figure that you came to for wise counsel. Isaiah’s player didn’t want to make her worry so he said he’d be careful. He didn’t lie to her but he wasn’t a child. He could make good decisions on his own. Perhaps Isaiah was a bit naive.

After Light and Isaiah parted easy in the temple of Lathander he headed back. First east along the quest forest road into shadow and then south along a path he hadn’t explored yet. His quest was the quite-common owl feather. Between Tharis, Azha, and Daggerdale, Azha seemed like the place to go. Light cautioned him about Tharis so his plan was to avoid it.

Isaiah waved to the guards at the south gate of shadow. The guards did not wave back, they were not programmed to respond to player waves. The elf went a few rooms and the pathway changed to a wagon trail with forest on each side. One of the rooms had a ‘Grand monument carved from the earth itself’ in it. Isaiah looked it over and it seemed to be a thank you to the beta testers. One could ‘read’ it and it would give a long list of 20 some-odd names. None of the names showed up on the who-list. Whoever these characters were, they must have moved on. ‘Neat’ Isaiah’s player thought as he continued to the next room south of this one. The devs running this game devs who make this game put little easter eggs to remember players long gone that will outlast them. How many console RPGs had a list of beta testers on a monument in game? He couldn’t think of any games with that.

Isaiah kept heading south along the forested wagon path. The next thing of interest was an inn. It had a sign outside it with the name ‘Rhapsody Inn’ Must be some kind of a musical establishment. There was a door that led into the inn but it was closed. Maybe this place was a popular place where player characters gathered. Isaiah shrugged and kept going south. There was a game trail that led to the east. Isaiah checked it out for a couple rooms and it led to a big open zone called ‘Darkwood’. He peered around and saw some orcs and ogres in some farther off spots. There looked to be some Voadkyn camp in the center of the forest too.

Isaiah’s player remembered Voadkyn from somewhere. He paused for a moment and typed ‘help voadkyn’ on chance that it would bring something up. Voadkyn were also known as wood giants. They were like hairless giant elves. It triggered a memory of character creation. He shuddered as that brought up some traumatic buried emotions. Voadkyn was one of the options of races he could have picked when he wasn’t trying to be a cleric. Voadkyn are a playable race. Also imagining numbers for stats rolling down the screen brought panic to Isaiah’s player mind. The number 18 felt like it was taunting him, challenging him to seek it out. Six 18s… the holy grail. Does it even exist? Isaiah’s player shook his head and tried to get the memory of character creation out of his mind. Focus on getting to Azha!

Isaiah headed back to the road. This wasn’t the right way. He was looking for Tharis and the road that led west of Tharis to Azha. Isaiah player told himself not to get distracted and get lost and killed by monsters that out-leveled his character. Isaiah kept going south trying to find the city Light mentioned.

South south south; Isaiah’s next distraction was a wagon stuck in the mud. He looked it over and the description stated that the wagon driver was struggling to get the wagon moving because the wheels were stuck in the mud. Someone could help with a ‘push’ to the wagon to get it loose. Isaiah was all about this. His character had 18(71) strength. He should be a star pusher second only to giants and orcs.

So Isaiah pushed. He took a single point of damage saying he hurt his back pushing the cart. Isaiah pushed a few more times before it came loose and the wagon driver gave him 10 silver coins. His player thought ‘what a dumb mini-game. There is no way players will flock to a game where the objective is to just push the cart.’ Isaiah had gotten distracted. He didn’t mean to. He was 10 silver coins richer but still. . . the quest for the feather . . don’t forget.

South south south, Isaiah followed the road and the forest finally parted to the city of Tharis. He mashed south too much and it would have gone right past the gate guards of Tharis’s north gate if they had let him.

Tharis Guard blocks you and points east.

Tharis Guard says: “Elves are only allowed entrance at the east gate.”

Isaiah stood there. The Tharis guards did not attack him for trying to enter the city while being elven. Apparently being an elf was not looked well upon the people of Tharis. There was a road along the walls. One went to the east and one went to the west. Apparently there were pathways to go along the outside of the city and avoid entering it to get past it. Isaiah followed Light’s advice and went to the west. He walked a few rooms west and saw a beggar begging by a sewer grate.

The beggar was wearing a hooded cloak so you couldn’t see his face. Isaiah looked at him and the description showed it was just sitting there holding out a bowl at passers. Isaiah decided to experiment and gave him a couple copper coins. Much to his surprise the beggar gave him a key.

Beggar says: “Thank you friend you can get to the elven quarter through the sewers.”

Beggar gives you ‘sewer key of Tharis’.

Isaiah unlocked the grate and took a step into the sewer. The tunnel went south for several rooms and had a couple branches going east and west in a few spots. He didn’t see anything in the sewer using the peer command. He wanted to be ready for a fight. He would equip his weapons. He wielded his sword and went to go wield the dagger in his off hand. He stopped himself and grumbled internally. Right, the bone dagger from the goblin assassin is not identified. Where are those owl feathers? Stop getting distracted!

Tharis seemed to have some kind of connection to elves. It was really hard to just walk away. Secrets could be there waiting to be discovered. Isaiah’s player wanted to throw caution to the wind and wield the bone knife. It would be a roll of the dice but what was this game if not a series of dice rolls? ‘Focus! Stop getting distracted.’ Isaiah’s player said to himself from behind the computer monitor he was glaring at.

He followed the path along the wall and saw some more Tharis guards that told him elves were not welcome in that gate either. He followed the road west of Tharis that was creatively named ‘the road between Tharis and Azha.’