Chapter 4 - The Forest

A steady clicking sound mingled with the steady vibrations of the cityscape. The source: a small ancient laptop. It was a foreign device in the modern age. Most people used holographic displays or VR desktops as their personal computers. But it got the job done, as Art would attest to.

Click after click of the worn keys he searched. He sat on the small balcony of his apartment, because for some reason the WiFi was better there. It would have been a nice spot to post up and browse the web if the air wasn't filled with smog and the dumpsters below didn't bring the perpetual stench of week old trash.

He tried not to pay it any mind as he pressed on. He needed to know more. Art was pouring through day 1 blogs and news posts about Isteryn. From beginners guides to short videos, news outlets to the company website for the game, there was more than enough media to devour. It really only told him one thing though: He got screwed... royally screwed.

Everyone he could find online had started in a beginner city, in some part of the world, where they had easy access to quests and shops and beginner training fields with low level monsters... He didn't.. It made him frown, and a headache was beginning to rise when he noted the time.. "Dawn is approaching soon... I need to get back.."

He sighed and shut the laptop. Standing, he returned indoors and lazily made his way to the capsule...

...

The blinding white faded.. All at once Art took in a sunrise the likes of which he had never seen. The blazing yellow orb rose over the horizon, scattering shadows of the trees below. The village was awake, and people moved here and there. They didn't seem to notice the natural beauty around them. The smell of dew on the early morn grass. The coolness of the breeze, that brought with it a damp smell, of dirt and nature. It was breathtaking...

But why would they care? It was their home.. Of course they took it for granted. Art shook himself out of the daze and turned to look around. Jack wasn't near his home, and he wasn't mingling with one of the other villagers, standing near their huts or beginning to till their fields.

"Art!..." he heard a familiar voice call. He turned to see Jack calling him from outside the village, near the field he had spawned at. The burly man was clad in rough leather, and had a worn sword at his side. Two other similarly clad men stood at his side, though they were a notable head shorter than he.

Art walked over and greeted Jack and was introduced to the other two,

"This is Erik... and this is Dominic..." he motioned first to a blonde man with no beard, and then to a bald man with a very long beard.. They both were nice enough and Art gave his short introduction before the group took off, away from the village and into the wood.

Hours passed, and they saw nothing... All the while Dominic could not stop talking. Small talk. He brought up some village gossip, then prattled on about his two sons and how they would be knights someday.. Jack was kind and would laugh at his jokes and join in the conversation, while Erik kept quiet the whole time, giving a nod here and there. It was odd to see them acting so casual with short swords in their hands.

Jack had given Art a long knife. It wasn't as fine a weapon as their blades but it was enough to harm.. even kill... And it was razor sharp too. He gripped the hilt like his life depended on it. He kept an eye on the wood, and tried to stay on task. It was hard when Dominic kept saying things like,

"You know that the Taxers are coming soon.. and old man Cray isn't going to make the cut.. Gonna have to sell off a daughter or grand daughter..."

Art picked up a lot of small interesting facts about the world from the trip in the forest. It all came from the perspective of an obviously uneducated, backwater villager. But more information than none was always welcome, so he asked slyly,

"I believe I've wandered rather far when I got lost.. would you mind telling me that I'm in the right Kingdom? So I can return when I get the chance?"

Dominic responded. He didn't seem to have any kind of suspicion towards Art. Rather, he answered plainly as if it wasn't a strange question to ask, "Of course! We are in the Kingdom of Eld.. But far to the north.. If you are from Ra'ev up north I don't hear it in your voice.. We may be close to the border but we don't mingle with those Northerners... I can spot em in a second, and I know you are an Eld, I can hear it in your accent. Where are you from? Close by?"

Art was taken aback by the sudden turn in the conversation. Dominic had turned his attention to barraging him with questions he wasn't sure how to answer.

As he opened his mouth to respond Erik shushed all of them, holding up a hand to his mouth as he crouched and held his sword close. "All of you quiet... I hear one..."

they all followed suit and lowered themselves down. they were below the height of the brush, specifically a nearby thorn bush. The dense ness of it combined with the closeness of the trees made them hard to spot in the dark forest.

A familiar sound reached Art's ears and his face went white. He remembered the feeling of being chased by the Goblin but then glanced towards the large bulky men on either side of him. Their presence made him feel protected. In short, he wasn't scared... Well, that scared anyway...

Jack was the first to move. With silent precision he sneaked around a tree ahead and out of sight. Art was beginning to protest and ask a question when Dominic stopped him, and shook his head. A moment later the grunting of the Goblin was replaced with a muffled squeal, and a soft thump.

[Exp: + 50]

[Exp: 50/50]

[Level Up! ... Stat points + 5]

Art nearly toppled over from the blue menu popping up in front of him. "Yes.. a level!" He thought to himself. He wondered why though, he got experience out of nowhere. He hadn't done anything that warranted it. Just then Jack returned from behind the trees. He had blood all over his leather chef plate and his sword, as it struck Art.

"Aaah... I guess we are in a party so we share experience... he killed a goblin so I get the experience for that too..." He smiled to himself. The quest was going to be profitable after all. At the very least he would gain some levels.

The other two seemed relieved that Jack came back safe, but weren't at all surprised. Art wasn't surprised either. The hulking behemoth of a man seemed more fit to be a knight than a backwater villager. He was sure there was some history the man kept to himself...

"That's one down" Jack said, wiping his blade off on the soft bark of a nearby birch. "I suspect there's a few more... from the path they should be to the east". He pointed at a nearby bush. To Art there didn't seem to be anything astray. It looked like a normal piece of foliage, untouched by human or monster alike.

It wasn't until Jack gestured more closely that the three saw, "Here... a broken twig.. Goblins are careful with their tracks but even they can leave a trail.. if you look hard enough..."

Art nodded along with the other two, who seemed to be equally at a loss.

[New Skill: Tracking]

[You have learned how to spot the hidden. You are more adept at seeing trails, traps, and other hidden things.]

Art smiled. He was getting levels and skills during the quest. He went ahead and checked his status:

[Name: Art] — [Class: None] — [Level: 2]

[Description: A weak human being with no distinguishable talents]

[Stat points to spend: 5]

[Strength: 4]

[Vitality: 4]

[Endurance: 4]

[Agility: 4]

[Intelligence: 4]

[Wisdom: 4]

[Charisma: 5]

[Abilities:]

[Silver Tongue: Lvl. 1]

[Tracking: Lvl. 1]

[Equipment]

-[Sack Cloth Clothes: 0 AC]-

-[Simple Knife: +2 Attack]-

"Hmm... my description hasn't changed"... He wondered if he had to get a class for it to change at all. But his thoughts strayed elsewhere as Jack started to walked slowly to the east. He kept his eyes down to follow the trail, and Art did the same. The new skill made it ever so slightly easier to spot the stray trodden leaf or broken branch. But it was still difficult and Jack made it look easy.

"Stop..." Jack said suddenly, after about twenty minutes of winding through the dense forest. The air was tense. Art could feel that something was about to happen, like the climax in a movie. Even Dominic was quiet, and quick glanced at their faces told him that they were as anxious as he was.

"Their camp is ahead... I'll circle around.. wait here behind this bush and when you hear a bird chirp three times charge in... I'll flank from the rear..."

Art agreed silently, as did the other two. Jack silently disappeared and Art joined the other two behind a large berry bush. Through the thick canopy of leaves and red berries he saw a small encampment of rough hewn shelters. There were about 3 shacks in total, made of dirt and branches.

It was a pitiful living space, but the ferocious goblins around didn't seem to mind. They flitted about like a swarm of locusts. Gnashing their teeth, growling, fighting each other, eating mystery meat raw.. It was a far cry to call it a village. It was more like they had to cluster together to survive, not that they wanted to.. Like a pack of wolves that lived by necessity in the group.. At the center was a large goblin, much bigger than the others. He sat on a large bed of hide and was viciously beating a smaller goblin as it squealed in pain.

Art was disgusted by the scene, and a feeling of primal rage swelled inside him, mingled with rising fear and anxiety.

He barely had time to process what was going on when the sound of a bird chirp rang loud through the clearing, reaching his ears. It repeated two more times and the three looked at each other, giving nods of understanding before they burst out of the brush and charged into the goblin encampment.

Art was the last to dash in and his heart beat fast. The two others were a lot faster than he was and were in the middle of the small clearing in seconds. The Goblins were stunned. They merely looked as if they couldn't believe what was happening.

It was the large goblin who seemed to restore order as he let out a loud and vicious growl. The other goblins then immediately scrambled for their weapons. Crude bows. Clubs. Vicious little knifes made of stone or flint.

But they weren't fast enough. Erik was the first to attack as he swung hard into the stomach of a Goblin ahead. Art saw a Hitpoints bar appear over its head that drained from 20 to 0 instantly as the green monster crumpled to the ground. Dead..

Dominic got caught off guard by a nasty little one that jumped from the roof of one of the shacks, knocking the man off balance for a moment as it feared into him with sharp claws. He yelled out in pain then kicked the beast hard, sending it flying ten feet or so.

But it was clear they had underestimated their numbers.. swarms of the small monsters came seemingly out of nowhere. Art has two sprinting at him in a matter of seconds. All in all he counted over twenty.

He turned his attention to the closest goblin and stepped back, holding the knife in front of him as if it would keep it at bay... it didn't... the creature lept and screeched wildly, swinging a wooden club in mid air that knocked the knife out of his hand. Art screamed and pushed the creature hard, then scrambled away..

Jack burst into the camp a moment later, and in the midst of the fighting a nasty squeal stopped them and the goblins. All eyes fell on where the hobgoblin had sat. Jack stood there with it's severed head raised high. The goblins were noticeably intimidated, and some turned to flee. Others dived at the burly man in a frenzy.

They fell to his blade like leaves in the wind.. the simple villager seemed to move with all the grace of a skilled swordsman, like some action movie hero. Art took the opportunity to pick up his own knife and swung wildly at the goblin with the club. At that point small arrows started to fly. The goblins had learned not to fight them at close range so they resorted to being sneaky..

"Oww!" Dominic yelled, dropping to a knee. He pulled a small flint arrow from his calf and let out a curse as he plunged his blade into the heart of a nearby goblin.

"You okay Dom?." Jack called, he turned mid swing to look at his friend, who waved him off saying, "it's alright.. not a deep wound..."

Erik shot over to his side in an instant though and helped him to stand, moving him out of the line of Fire. At that point there were only a handful of Goblins remaining, and they were running around shooting arrows off. Some had fled, dashing into the wood.. Jack told them not to worry about those, that without the Hob Goblin they would die to bigger wildlife or simply starve.

Art still hadn't killed a single goblin and was struggling with the one with a club as the others finished. He felt useless, ashamed even.. These simple villagers had done so much work while he was just deadweight.

Erik tended to Dominic's wound as Jack stood back and watched the fight. "Come on Art!.. You've got it!.. yeh, strike now! Dodge that to the left.."

He gave pointers, like it was some sort of lesson. That somehow made it all the more embarrassing.. he had struck the goblin a few times but only enough to take off 5 hit points.. it still had 15.. He on the other hand had 10/18 left.. He was losing...

"graaooorrr!" The goblin lept, as if trying to deal the final blow. Art stumbled backwards and fell, holding his knife up. He watched the black eyes of the beast. They said, "I'm going to kill you human"... and he believed it...

He closed his eyes, expecting the end when he felt a trickle of something wet down his hand. He opened his eyes and saw the knife protruding out of it's stomach. The goblin was dead.. he had killed it.. he pushed the small green creature off him as Jack and the others cheered him on, "You got him! Good job!..."

He smiled, and wobbled over to where the others were. It was then another message popped up:

[EXP + 530]

[Level Up! ... Stat Points + 15]

In one fell swoop he had gone from level 1 to level 5.. with 20 stat points to spend too... He wasn't sure what to spend them on just yet, as he didn't have a class.. so he decided to hold off till later..

"Good job Art.." Jack said, extending a hand.

Art looked at it for a moment and said, "I didn't do much... I only killed one, and barely at that"

He looked down and smiled, putting his hand on Art's shoulder, "Nonsense! If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have known about this camp.. sure, we took care of them.. But goblins breed fast.. they could have grown to be a much bigger problem... You've helped the village, you have our thanks"

Erik gave him a nod and so did Dominic. Jack held out a small bag which Art took, "This is a little something I found on the hobgoblin.. you should take it.."

[Quest Complete!]

[You have helped to subdue the goblin threat with Jack and the others. Their trust and respect for you has gone up.]

[Red-Glen Reputation +5]

[Soul Knight Reputation +5]

[Exp + 200]

[Reward: 5 Gold Pieces]

Art thanked him, and helped them to get Dominic on his feet. They asked if he was going to return to the village with them, and he almost did. They told him with the money he had in his pocket he could easily get a ride to the nearest city... It was tempting, but something deep within him told him not to..

He remembered the deep *thum... *thum...* coming from the cliffs, and the quest that hung heavy in his log:

[Find the Old Bastard in the cliffs]

He shook his head and told them, "I'm sorry.. I can't.. I have to be on my way.."

"Aah we understand.." Jack said. Dominic spoke up a moment later, laughing through pained breath, "Yeh!.. but if you are ever in Red-Glen stop by for a drink won't you?"

Art laughter and agreed. Erik simply gave him a respectful nod and they went on their way. He stood in the midst of the dead goblins and looked past the trees towards the massive cliffs.

Art looked around for a moment before he began to move, walking with his knife in hand toward the next quest...