Chapter Seven

Gal’Slai

Fred emerged from the cave behind his group, and as he exited his anxiety dropped away. Until he looked up and saw a very large and hairy man, that seemed to hunch at the shoulders a bit. This man was dark skinned, with bright green eyes that seemed to radiate irritation and impatience, stood seemingly over seven feet tall, even with the slight hunch.

Fred felt a sensation that he associated with his information being observed. He didn’t know how to feel about that, nor how to prevent it.

“Why be there level ones, new arrivals, emerging from the Lair of the Treachery? Hmm?” The intimidating stranger growled.

“W-we were told to leave the beginning town immediately. Jack said Karl had been infected by some creature that appeared occasionally, and insisted it was urgent all of us leave immediately.” Fred stammered out, and the stranger looked them all over slowly, with a hint of resignation.

“I, Akiro Liarsbane.” The stranger said abruptly, nodding towards the group.

Akiro pointed towards a very large building that looked nearly like a carbon copy of the inn they had just left, except that it was a dark red color in the mid morning sun. The inn was in the middle of what seemed to be a town center, with a myriad of small buildings around it.

“Check in with Shadow at inn, we find way for you to be less weak. I wait for rest of new ones.”

Akiro turned away from them and moved to a spot that was between the cave that they had just emerged from and a mountain trail that led up from a nearby valley, turning back around to observe the group as they started to move towards the inn. The same valley that Fred had seen in his dream, he was sure of it. The dread that rose up in Fred upon looking at that mountain trail made Akiro snarl quietly at the weakness he was seeing.

“Strong Karl turn monster, new weak ones come early, weaker than should be. No good sign.” Akiro muttered to himself softly, shaking his head imperceptibly.

Stan heard this and wondered what level they should’ve been before coming to Gal’Slai. He resolved to ask this Shadow character at the inn when they arrived.

Fred and his group walked in silence, taking roughly twenty minutes to reach the town, looking around at the shops that were in their path before the inn. They saw an apothecary, a blacksmith, scribing services and more on the way to the inn, but knew they had to get there before anything else at that moment. Stan, Kate, Tanya and John all made a mental note of where certain buildings were located, determined to make a visit to them soon after binding their spawn point to this inn.

As they entered the inn, a slim woman that seemed normal in most ways except for her unusual height, slight hunch and hairier complexion stood behind the bar with arms crossed. She made a motion and nodded.

{Alert} Your group’s spawn point has been relocated to the inn in Gal’Slai, on Layer One.

“Now, explain why you’re here before you should be and why only the rogue has his weapons equipped. Not a drop of experience in any of you, and yet you’re here instead of the beginning town?”

Fred and Stan looked at each other in surprise. It was Kate who asked the question on their mind.

“How do you know how much experience we have?”

“I’m an innkeeper dear, we have a specialized set of skills. Including knowing what may or may not be too much for an adventuring group to handle. Now, answer my previous question, please.”

Kate sighed slowly.

“Jack told us that Karl had been infected by some elite monster that showed up occasionally, and insisted we leave immediately to avoid any possible danger from it.”

“Where are the rest of your groups that arrived?”

“We were already mostly prepared, unlike them, so we left much earlier than they did, I’m pretty sure.” Stan stated suddenly.

After a moment of contemplation, the innkeeper replied.

“I see your rogue is more competent than the others in your groups. If there are any other rogues, that is. Strange how little value your kind places in them. In any event, I’m sure Akiro sent you to me. I am Shadow. Before you ask, no, we natives do not have surnames as you do; we have titles we may earn, such as his Liarsbane or Karl’s Eliteslayer.”

Fred was surprised at that fact. But maybe it wasn’t so strange, given that no native here died from natural aging? Or was it strange due to that very same fact?

Fred shook his head, sighing internally that he was thinking of such intricacies as that at this moment.

Shadow knew what he was thinking and huffed.

“Your people are not very imaginative when they arrive on Al’Qarim. Almost always the same questions. But I digress. Go claim your rooms, the fifth and sixth floors are mostly empty right now, and I highly recommend you look into a craft while we wait for your other groups to arrive with Akiro.”

The group looked at each other, then went to claim their rooms as suggested by Shadow. They decided on the fifth floor, six adjacent rooms. Tanya decided to break the ice.

“Which craft deals with arrows? I’m going to need a shitload.”

Stan frowned slightly as he tried to remember.

“Usually blacksmithing for the arrow heads, woodworking for the arrows themselves, but those were online games. No idea if it’ll be the same or similar here.”

John interrupted.

“We don’t know what all different crafts there are here, yet. I have a feeling I’m going to need blacksmithing for my armor and shield, but the rest of you probably shouldn’t decide on a craft before we learn more.”

Tanya rolled her eyes as Fred and Kate nodded in agreement.

As the day went on, Shadow was receiving reports from Akiro about what seemed to be a massacre, or abduction, that was ongoing. Only twelve of the other fifteen groups arrived at the inn in Gal’Slai, meaning three were missing. She frowned, brows furrowing. Another oddity, already. Well, this century’s batch was sure to be interesting, she mused to herself.

It turns out, there were several crafts to be learned within Gal’Slai, and each person could learn two. Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Alchemy, Cooking, First Aid, Spell-crafting, Bookbinding, Inscription, and Tailoring were available. Strangely enough, Mining was incorporated into Blacksmithing, unlike games back home. The same was for Skinning and Leatherworking. It also seemed that to be a successful Spell-Crafter, you would need the aid of a second person as the inscribed information needed to be bound within a tome as part of a requirement for Spell-craft.

After consulting with each other for what felt like hours, the group decided on who should go with what, except for Stan, who approached a shady looking character off in the corner of the market square and followed him into a dark alley. Fred learned the rudimentary skills and gained minor blueprints for Tailoring and Inscription. Kate learned basic Spell-craft and Bookbinding, using part of her funds that were in her bag of holding upon arriving in Al’Qarim. John, predictably, picked up Blacksmithing and First Aid. Tanya decided on Alchemy and Leatherworking. Zach, being the good cook, he was, chose Cooking and also took Alchemy.

The group was returning to the inn, when Stan reappeared. Everyone gave him a curious glance, to which he shrugged.

“Class specific crafts, though one isn’t really a craft, it just takes up a craft slot.”

“Well?”

Tanya snapped at him, slightly irritated that Stan decided to just skip the discussion. He sighed slowly.

“Jewelcrafting, and Rogue-craft”.

Fred and Kate looked at each other, then back to Stan, visibly confused.

“It’s supposed to be like a miniature quest and task system, practicing pickpocketing, backstabbing, information gathering…get small things that I can use later to create some pretty useful stuff.”

Fred nodded, but had a question.

“So, we gained the skills relating to the crafts, can we not level them right now? And I don’t remember hearing of a tier system for crafts.”

“That’s because you slept in the other day.” John reminded him.

“Spells can be used right away when learned, same with contracts. Skills on the other hand, you have to sleep after you level the skill and before you can use that skill. It’s variable for abilities, Jack told us.”

“Does that mean we have to wait for our levels to update as we sleep?” Fred frowned as he asked.

“No, that’s automatic according to Jack.”

Fred felt a small knot of tension uncoil at that, he knew from years of gaming and even from D&D, that having to wait for levels to update could change the course of quite a lot.

“So, what are the tiers?”

Stan answered him.

“Novice, Beginner, Intermediate, Proficient, Journeyman, Adept, Masterful, and Grand-Mastery.”

Fred nodded, his brow furrowing.

Different tiers depending on what we’re increasing? That seems odd, and a bit confusing. Or maybe there’s a reason behind it?

The group continued on walking back towards the tavern. What greeted them there, changed a few things in their perspective.

There was a crowd in front of the inn, off to the side, standing in front of what looked like a typical questing board in some MMORPG’s. On one side of the board, posters with “MISSING” stamped on them in bright red were prominent. Eighteen people were missing. However, there were four fliers with question marks where the drawings should have been, separate from the others.

“What’s with the mystery fliers?”

Kate asked no one in particular.

“Every time weaklings appear, four don’t show up when other weaklings do. Shadow made habit of making extra for the missing weaklings, yes.”

A vaguely familiar growling and gruff voice answered from behind them.

“So, no one knows their names or faces?”

“No.”

“They’re always found at some point, usually later on here in the first layer.”

Shadow’s voice replied, walking up to them.

“Time for a meeting between us and all the groups. Come, follow me.”

Later that night, one of the posters with a question mark on it gradually changed, showing a short and stout man with a long beard with a complexion that said he spend plenty of time in the outdoors. The name changed to “Carl.”