Opening his eyes, Eric was greeted by the sight of gently rolling fields of wildflowers. A few sakura trees gave the plains a scenic look and provided shade. The colourful array of flowers that covered the plains rippled gently in the wind that caressed his face and sent waves spreading across a nearby pond. It truly was a beautiful and refreshing place Eric thought, tilting his head to receive the sun"s rays.
"I know right? I love this place," a wistful voice said from behind him. Whirling around, Eric reached for his weapons only to find that they had disappeared.
"There"s no weapons in Elysium, silly," Eleanor giggled, hovering just above his head. Rolling his eyes at the fairy, Eric relaxed, returning to taking in the view, laying back in the soft gra.s.s and closing his eyes to savour the warm sun upon his heavy eyelids. After a few moments of this he spoke up, "So this is Elysium then? The legendary Greek underworld where the blessed go?" Eric asked the fairy.
Eleanor smiled, "Yup! That"s what I"m told anyways. This place was designed to allow players to calm down after a death. Death is traumatic, especially in a world as immersive as Fate. In order to prevent players from dwelling on it, the developers implemented a number of systems that take away the sting of death. Elysium is one of the more obvious ones."
Eric nodded, now that he thought about it, he had just died hadn"t he? And yet the sight of these gently rolling fields and the calmness of nature had taken his mind off the matter almost instantly.
"Elysium eh? It"s a good name," Eric said appreciatively.
Eleanor grinned, "I spend a lot of time here. You really suck as an owner you know."
"Wait what? Why do I suck?" Eric asked, raising an eyebrow at the tiny fairy who pouted and turned her back at him in response.
"Most players get to meet their fairies fairly often. They die, or they ask for help, or they vent about the difficulty level. But you"ve never summoned me once! And this is your first death since you started. I haven"t seen you since the tutorial!" Eleanor complained, puffing out her cheeks cutely as she did so.
Suppressing the urge to giggle at Eleanor"s cute expression, Eric forced an apologetic look upon his face, "Sorry. I didn"t mean to be so good at the game that I never got to see you, that was my bad."
Hearing this, Eleanor"s gaze softened slightly, "Well. It"s true that I"m glad you"ve been doing well. It lets me brag when I encounter other fairies. But you could at least summon me more often! Most of the other fairies talk to their owners a few times a day you know."
With a perplexed look on his face Eric stared at the fairy, "I can summon you?" he asked.
"Yes? You didn"t know that?"
Shaking his head, Eric looked at Eleanor with a mute expression. c.o.c.king her head to the side, she looked at him strangely, "Didn"t you read about the systems in Fate when you were setting up the FateGear? There should have been a page about being able to summon me that you acknowledged. Right before the confirmation that you wanted to keep the gore settings on. Right after the terms of service agreement."
Eric briefly had a vision of rapidly clicking through page after page of notifications as he was setting up the Fate preinstallation. Shaking his head quickly to escape the flashback he laughed nervously, "Oh right there was that. I remember now."
Eleanor gave him a hard look as Eric wilted into the surrounding flowers, attempting to truly become one with nature.
"I suppose I could use a refresher though," he conceded, earning him a weary sigh from the fairy.
"You can summon me at any time by saying, "Eleanor you"re my only hope. Please a.s.sist this poor soul!"" she remonstrated. Eric gave the fairy a hard look back, "Are you sure that"s the right phrase?"
"Of course. All players have a similar phrase," Eleanor informed him primly.
"So what can I ask you for help with?" Eric asked, changing the subject. Eleanor smiled at this, clearly pleased that he was taking the initiative to ask for her advice.
"Well mostly you can summon me to ask about various game systems in Fate. I don"t have the authorization to tell you about some systems, but for stuff such as interacting with NPC"s, the direction you should take if you"re lost, or information on the surrounding area, I"m your girl!"
"What about how skills work?"
"Nope, I don"t have authorization for that."
"Leveling?"
"I don"t have the authorization for that either."
"Hidden quests? Spellcasting?"
"No to both of those too…"
"Monster information?"
"I can tell you about that!" said Eleanor, perking up as she looked at him.
"Like their stats, weak points, and fighting styles?" Eric asked. Hearing this, Eleanor deflated again, her head drooping as she responded with a miserable expression, "No. I can"t tell you about that…"
Feeling a little guilty as he looked at the depressed fairy, Eric had a sudden idea, "Well as long as you can keep me company I suppose that"s fine. I"ve always wanted to have someone as reliable as Eleanor to count on."
Brightening up Eleanor looked at Eric, "I can do that!"
Eric laughed, extending his arm towards the fairy, "Alright then, I"ll be counting on you from now on then."
"It"s a deal!" Eleanor replied, shaking his pinky finger happily.
"So, how does this place work? How long do I have to stay in Elysium for before I can return to Nasvienna or whatever it"s called?" he asked the fairy.
"Nasvencia," she corrected him. Then she thought for a moment, "You can return to Nasvencia after half an hour has pa.s.sed. However, you have the option to set Elysium"s time dilation to normal if you desire. This allows you to only wait for just over five minutes to return."
Eric nodded, "Makes sense. Do I have to stay in Elysium? Or can I return to the FateGear lobby and check on stuff while I wait."
"You"re free to return to the lobby. You actually have a Strife message awaiting you now. It arrived only a couple minutes ago," Eleanor informed him.
"Do I leave the same way I do normally? Just using my logout phrase?" Eric asked.
"Yup!"
"Alright then, I"ll be leaving then. I"ll call you in game soon though," Eric promised the fairy. With a beautiful smile, Eleanor bade him goodbye as he raised his arm and logged out, leaving behind the beautiful fields of Elysium. Opening his eyes, Eric was greeted by the familiar view of the ocean, surging against the wind as it crashed over the rocky beach outside. Sitting up from the couch, a flash of movement drew his attention to the wall where the entrance to Fate was. Looking over, Eric was surprised to see that a new timer had appeared within the softly glowing runes. As he watched, the timer ticked down from four minutes to three minutes and fifty-nine seconds.
An enormous lock behind the timer gave hints to its purpose. Walking over, Eric extended his arm towards the portal experimentally. Roughly an inch away from the portal, his hand was repelled as if by an invisible force field.
"You cannot re-enter Fate until your death penalty is over," Eleanor"s voice rang out. Eric nodded, as expected it was a countdown to the end of his death penalty. Thankfully four minutes was plenty of time for him to get everything done.
Turning away from the wall, Eric summoned the Strife interface. Sure enough there was a message waiting for him from Mark just like Eleanor had said. Opening the message Eric began to read.
> Yo Eric. Griffin and I are on our way to Tonbura village now. We should be there sometime in the next two hours in game. Since we still don"t have a way to whisper or contact each other in game, try and get back to Tonbura soon okay? Griffin and I will be waiting for you at the main square at 1pm real time. If you don"t show after twenty minutes in game we"ll just ditch you and go leveling.
> Oh right
> Griffin wanted me to tell you to respond to this whether or not you missed it. I"ll log out to double check after we arrive in Tonbura.
Typing a quick reply to Mark, Eric closed the Strife client and stretched. Checking the timer, he saw that he had just enough time to log out and grab a drink. Exiting the FateGear, he quickly set to it, chugging some chocolate milk, devouring a few cookies, and petting the cat which was sprawled lazily in a sunbeam on the table.
Bounding back upstairs, Eric re-entered the FateGear lobby where the timer was almost done counting down. Impatiently, he watched as the last few seconds pa.s.sed, the lock opening and fading away as the game became playable once more.
Entering the portal, Eric found himself in the middle of Tonbura village once more. Before he could even move, a system message popped into existence in front of him.
[You have been slain by: Hobgoblin]
[You have died. Death count: 1]
[Quest Failed: Goblin Encampment]
The Hobgoblin has slain your entire party. As a result the goblins are now aware that you know of the existence of their base. Reinforcements are now surely inbound to the goblin encampment. Report the news of the goblin encampment and the presence of the hobgoblin to Captain Alistair.
[As you have not unlocked the Warehouse system yet the penalty for dying has been reduced. All money and equipment has been kept. Half of your remaining items have been left with your corpse. These can be looted for the next twelve hours by any player or NPC. Please keep in mind that the penalty for dying after initiating a PvP action is more severe even without the warehouse feature.]
Seeing this final notification, Eric quickly opened his inventory. Thankfully his silver and copper was all still there, as was all of his equipment, including his weapons and armour, but the quiver of stone arrows had disappeared as had many of the drops he"d received from the goblins that he"d slain along with Aria and Turk.
Speaking of Aria and Turk, what happened to them? Eric wondered, searching the square for their faces. He remembered the two mentioning a town, Vinbur or something like that. Had they resp.a.w.ned there rather than at Tonbura? Eric wondered, failing to find their faces among the players and villagers pa.s.sing through the square.
Re-equipping his armour, Eric slid the shortsword back into the sheath at his waist. Feeling much more confident now that he was once more properly armed, even if both his sword and armour were in dire need of repairs, Eric set off towards the militia barracks.
Arriving in front of Alistair"s office, Eric knocked loudly.
"Who is it?" a grumpy voice rang out.
"Corporal Kystfyr. I have a report about a hobgoblin in Lichfrost Forest," Eric replied.
"Enter."
Opening the door, Eric entered the office. Alistair was seated across from the door as usual; however, the number of papers and scroll spread across the table had nearly doubled, the once orderly surface now a jumble of parchment and ink.
Motioning him forward, Alistair gestured for him to sit down. Taking the hint, Eric quickly shut the door and took a seat, looking closely at the militia captain. The man seemed exhausted, huge bags under Alistair"s eyes showed his lack of sleep, and his hair was slick with acc.u.mulated grease.
"You said you wanted to report, Corporal?" said Alistair, his voice steady despite his obvious tiredness.
"Yes," said Eric, throwing a salute towards the captain. Seeing this Alistair rolled his eyes but offered no response, simply continuing to stare at the half-elf. Swallowing nervously, Eric began to recount the events that had led up to his death, tossing the loot he"d gained from hunting goblins upon the table as proof of his exploits.
"And then I was killed by the hobgoblin as well," said Eric, finishing his recollection of the encounter.
Alistair frowned, "A hobgoblin eh? Did it have any defining features? Any markings or tattoos?"
Pondering for a moment, Eric shook his head, "Not that I could see. But I was doing my best just to survive. I didn"t really have time to observe the monster in detail."
Alistair sighed at this, "I"m not going to lie. Your party being discovered is a blow to our preparations. This will doubtless cause the hobgoblin to increase the speed that his forces work, finishing their forward base and preparing for invasion. It"s likely that the entire northern front will be affected by this blunder of yours," Eric winced at these words. While it was true that he"d failed the quest, was it really that bad? It wasn"t like they"d wanted to be killed by a hobgoblin after all he reasoned.
Alistair sighed again, "Still, I suppose it"s partially my fault for not warning you not to venture alone into Lichfrost Forest. You"ve done well to bring this news to us. Even at the expense of your own lives, I doubt dying was easy even forearmed with the knowledge that you would revive," said Alistair, looking deeply at the half-elf who shifted uncomfortably on the spot.
"What should we do next Captain? We can"t just allow them to build their base unimpeded can we?" Eric asked, attempting to change the subject as he looked imploringly at Alistair. Alistair stroked his chin, "That"s a decision that I cannot make alone. It affects too many for me to give you an answer right away. If you"d managed to remain undiscovered I would have dispatched you and a few others to burn the base immediately. Now that they"re aware that we know of the bases existence, it"s gotten a little more complicated. Leave for now, I will send word for you once we have a plan."
"Got it, anything you need me to do in the meantime sir? I want to make up for my mistake," said Eric. The corner of Alistair"s lips curled upwards slightly at this, the closest thing to a smile Eric had seen on the man, "Wanting to make up for your mistake is an admirable thing. But don"t let your zealousness for merits overtake your rational thinking. As to what you can do, focus on getting stronger. Hobgoblins are some of the more powerful creatures that serve under the Ironfrost King, at your current level of strength you"re nothing more than cannon fodder in front of one. If you want to take part in whatever plan is formed then go get stronger."
"Any suggestions on how to do that, sir? I"ve been killing monsters haphazardly to aid the militia as I train. But I"m sure you know of a more effective way to gain strength," said Eric, looking hopefully towards the militia captain.
Alistair frowned and observed the half-elf, taking in the bow slung over his back, and the sword at his waist, "That depends. If it"s martial prowess you seek then you should head for one of the nearby towns. Vinberra Town is roughly a days walk from here."
"What about for magic?" Eric asked.
"Well you"ve already met the best mage in the region. The only mages more proficient than Tonbura"s Morningstar are in the capital. Of course you"ll have a hard time of it, but Morningstar"s a good teacher, albeit a strict one," replied Alistair.
Eric nodded at this, "I"ll see if I can get her to teach me then. When would you like me to return?"
"Don"t bother returning here, I"ll contact you once we have a plan in place," said Alistair with a dismissive tone, refusing to elaborate on how he would accomplish this. Seeing that the meeting was over, Eric saluted once more, grabbing the pouch of coins that Alistair had replaced the goblin equipment with from the table before turning and taking his leave of the militia barracks.