The Dark Herbalist, Book 2: Stay on the Wing

The Dark Herbalist: Stay on the Wing

by Michael Atamanov

release - June 2, 2017

Preorder here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XHPJG2S

The Tail-End of a Long Story

 "AMRA, ADMIT IT. At the end of the day, all our searching has turned up nothing. There’s no trace of them!" said the morbidly thin wood nymph in a light frock sitting on a fallen tree and yawning wide, demonstrating a set of sharp predatory teeth.

My sister hadn't gotten any sleep all night and was clearly beside herself. And the only reason she was up at this ungodly hour was me, not the light and not the dawn. Valeria had expressed her disapproval in sharp terms and refused to enter the game for some time. But the risk that some of the many killers after me might show up near the Cursed House was absolutely real, so in the end, Val apologized and agreed to come play with the rest of our group.

Max Sochnier, who I'd called on his cell phone, had promised to come in to work as soon as possible and catch up to us near Stonetown. And even Leon, after a moment of thought, asked me not to leave without him. I understood perfectly how difficult this choice was for the former construction worker, too. On the one hand, he had the half-destroyed goblin village of Tysh, where his character, an Ogre Fortifier, had work lined up for a month, providing him a steady stream of missions, experience and leveling. On the other hand, he was being asked to cast in his lot with our group, fleeing from hired assassins in peril and anonymity. Leon chose the option of staying with his friends, and I deeply appreciated that. By now, he would have already arrived by taxi to the Boundless Realm building, and should have been entering the game at any minute. After that, we could all run for our lives to Stonetown.

Taisha walked up to me, wrapped tight in my coat and accompanied by the clearly limping Akella. The beautiful green-skinned goblin lowered her eyes in response to my inquisitive gaze and shook her head.

"I’ve got nothing. I walked around the Stonetown stockade and checked the gates a few times, but the lady wasn't there. I looked over the tracks left by the farm workers again, too. There are a lot of footprints, but none from a lady. The runaway must have left a few days ago. I sent Tamina Fierce’s children with Lobo and White Fang back to check the road from Stonetown to Tysh in the opposite direction. Although, as you must understand, the chances are low. We've already looked there a couple times..."

I swatted at a level-4 Fly buzzing peskily around my ear (our Naiad Trader hadn't been exaggerating — near the river, there were flies the size of a fist) and plopped down wearily next to my sister on a fallen log. Taisha carefully found herself a place next to me.

Day was dawning. The sky in the east was growing noticeably pink. But today, I wasn't afraid of the sunrise, because I could already see plenty of thick rainclouds dashing about the sky like dark tattered rags. It would probably start raining any second, then our search for the missing dark-haired girl would become utterly useless — the rain would wash all remaining evidence away. The wolves of the Gray Pack would no longer be able to smell her trail, either. The rare Gray Pack's Past quest threatened to remain unfinished. But I had big plans that were entirely reliant on finishing that mission — it would give me the ability to include ferocious and swift-footed wargs in the Gray Pack, which was very, very tempting!

I took a heavy sigh and removed the brightly colored headband I'd found in the warg's lair from my inventory and spun it in my hands. To look at it, it was just a headband as average as they come, the kind village girls wear to keep their hair back but, when I found it, the next mission in the Gray Pack chain initiated. We couldn't just let that pass us by and let the runaway escape. I sincerely hoped we still had a chance. If not, we might have bungled the whole Gray Pack mission chain, which would be terrible. In vexation, I slapped my palm against an impudent fly landing on my forehead, crushing it.

Damage dealt: 18 (Slap)

Experience received: 4 Exp.

Object received: Dead Fly (bait)

Your character is missing the requisite skill to use this object

Skill required: Fishing (P A) level-3

I flicked the fly away. It was useless to me anyway. Then, I shouted in a fit of anger, not clear who I was addressing:

"There's no way a pregnant lady could just go up in smoke, much less with her young niece and nephew! After all, there must have been some reason for her suddenly fleeing after such a long stay. Just imagine how hard it must have been for her to walk! Damn, all these flies really have me worked up!"

As a matter of fact, a whole swarm of the buzzing insects had come in place of the one I’d killed, and were now cutting circles above our heads with a vile whirring sound. Valerianna Quickfoot shook her right fist, and all of her hornet pets moved out to help us, taking down the insolent blood-suckers in a matter of seconds. Taisha, on seeing the dangerous overgrown wasps, crouched down and tried to cover her head with her jacket. I, meanwhile, whistled respectfully, having counted at least ten wasps, which were either black and brownish-yellow or orange-red. I even saw that some of them had already reached level sixteen.

A bit more leveling and they'd reach twenty, then the Beastmaster could choose useful perks for them. Knowing my sister, I had no doubt that Valerianna Quickfoot had already thought through a development plan for her pets down to the smallest detail, considering both the strong and weak points. Clearly, the wood nymph hadn't selected her swarm at random, given the several distinct types of wasp within it. My sister, obviously flattered at the attention paid to her variously-shaded pretties, sent her flying pets away and answered me:

"Why she ran is, of course, clear. In the last few days, eleven of her friends have been killed. She likely knew they were wargs. She might not be, but she began justly fearing for her own life all the same. Although, Tim, we might be wrong. Maybe the dark-haired girl had absolutely nothing to do with it, and her leaving the farm is just a coincidence. In any case, we should come to an agreement on the runaway as quickly as possible — we can't just stick around near Stonetown. When the sun comes up, there might be assassins about. My opinion — we should stop searching and leave right away."

My sister then went silent abruptly and got on edge, seeing a bare-footed gray-haired old man dressed in a dark chlamys walking in our direction from the houses of the village. But based on how Valerianna immediately breathed a sigh of relief, I realized that this old man was familiar to her and presented no threat. I quickly read his info:

Umar Bonesetter

Level-45 Human Witch Doctor

This must have been the Stonetown doctor the wood nymph had met on our second day in game. She’d told me about him on a number of occasions. With a short nod to my sister, as if greeting an old friend, the gray-haired bearded man stopped next to me, looked me over and gave a kind-hearted laugh:

"You must be the big-eared goblin herbalist who moved into the Cursed House! I've been expecting plant deliveries from you for quite some time! You're late!"

If the old man thought he could shame me with those words, he was wrong. I was seeing him for the first time. I had no obligation to sell him plants, so I didn't feel at all guilty. What was more, I didn't even have enough plants to practice Alchemy with, so the witch-doctor was absolutely wrong to be counting on me. But the man wasn't even expecting me to answer and had already turned his attention to Taisha. Under his harsh gaze, my companion grew embarrassed, shrunk and wrapped herself tighter in the jacket, covering over her thin thief's outfit, still burned through in many places.

"In my time, girls would have been embarrassed to walk around looking like that," said the old man, shaking his head judgmentally. "You may enter the village. The guards at the gates know you. They'll let you through. My home is the second on the right from the gates. You’ll find a needle and thread on the shelf in the entryway. Sew that wretched outfit up."

Taisha turned to me and, after getting permission, jumped up off the log and scurried off to mend her clothes. The witch-doctor immediately took her place, croaked out like an old man and sat down next to me on the fallen tree. He gave Pirate a scratch behind the ear, truly unafraid of the level-17 Forest Wolf, dozing away under Valerianna Quickfoot’s legs. Being honest, I was taken aback by the old man's lack of caution. I mean, my sister's pet Pirate was a wild predator, after all, and this old man couldn't possibly know how the wolf would react to an attempt to stroke it like that. But the wolf just twitched his ear lazily, as if chasing off a gadfly, and continued dozing.

A private message came in from Shrekson:

"Me and Leon just entered the game and are hurrying on our way to you. We're going as fast as possible, but we still need an hour to get to Stonetown. Wait for us."

So, I had one more hour to pick up the runaway girl’s trail. In that time, the sun would be coming up. And after that, we would have to run as far as possible from Stonetown. The chance of us meeting a high-level enemy was increasing with every minute. Also, the residents of the human village would be waking up soon. They would be sure to take an interest in our search, making it impossible for the wolves of the Gray Pack to work effectively.

As if reading my thoughts, the old witch-doctor spoke with an old-man's growl:

"Come to think of it, this is some strange business. A whole group of goblins with a pack of wolves and a dangerous mavka came to our human village and, now, they’re all crawling about stubbornly trying to sniff something, or somebody out. One might start to think you have ill intentions for our village. Perhaps I should send a runner to the garrison for more guards…"

I turned in fear to the old man and discovered that he was smiling and could barely hold back his laughter.

"I'm just joking, dumbo," the witch-doctor hurried to reassure me. "The mavka told me who you're looking for yesterday. It's just that you aren't talking, Amra. I'm only trying to start a conversation."

"We is looking after runaway farmhand from long-away plantation. Many farmhand is run, master no understand where and why workers is leaving," I said, purposely distorting my words.

But the old man answered, beaming all the brighter and shaking his head in reproach:

"Oh, goblin, you're a bad liar... Never in a million years would I believe that the greedy Kariz would go search for missing workers, especially near the end of the season when pay time is coming. For him, the farm-hands disappearing is a good thing — it means he has to part with less of his coin."

I looked thoughtfully at the man, who appeared wizened by a long life... and decided to tell him the whole truth as it was, hiding nothing. And I even spoke in normal human language without my tongue-tied "goblin accent." Umar Bonesetter listened to my story about killing the wargs and discovering their lair very carefully, without a single interruption. And when I reached the part where I discovered the headband, leading to my suspicions on the runaway dark-haired woman, the witch-doctor said thoughtfully:

"The runaway was named Belle. I knew from her first day in town that she wasn't just a simple villager. She’s a short girl with short hair. She showed up in the village five months ago. The farm owner, Kariz, hired that group of farm-hands in the spring for sowing and asked me to give the lady a checkup. She looked far too thin, beat-up and unhealthy. It was as if she were ill. And also, her short hair aroused suspicion. What kind of girl would just cut off her braids like that? It spoiled her womanly beauty! The only reason I could think of would be typhus or some disease."

The old man stayed silent for a bit as if trying to remember then continued, noticeably quieter:

"At that time, Belle's belly wasn't noticeable at all. No one had any idea she was with child. But when I was looking her over, she just told me all about it. She said she'd fled back-breaking labor, squabbles, and humiliation. Even worse, she told me of her master’s daily unwelcome advances. She couldn’t even walk around the farm without being harangued. She told me that her former master's wife had cropped her hair like that to stop her stealing her husband away. I took pity on her, so I didn't tell Kariz anything about her pregnancy. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken her on."

"So, what made you realize she was unusual?" the wood nymph inquired. "From my perspective, she sounds like a typical browbeaten village girl with a difficult lot in life."

For some reason, the old man looked ashamed and started coughing, then continued his story, now barely audible:

"Every woman asks the witch-doctor for help giving birth — healing elixirs, herbs, painkillers. That sort of thing. The prescription for birthing has been known since the beginning of time. It's always one and the same. First, a decoction of meadow heather, so the seed takes and turns head-down in the womb when the time comes. Then, a drink of wild honey, white chamomile and Saint John's wort, which gives her the strength needed for the birth itself. Women need many things to cope with childbearing, and I can prepare them all. But Belle asked me for something else entirely: wolfsbane, red mandrake, and enough strong sleeping potion to knock a mountain titan off its feet. Where did a poor browbeaten village woman get the money for such expensive elixirs? It didn't fit with her story. And though I’m not certain why she needed a sleeping potion, wolfsbane is known not just for its stupefying effect, but also for the fact that it stops shapeshifters from changing form. And that was when realized something was amiss and started keeping an eye on the young woman. But still, I didn't give Belle up to the villagers, because she was behaving herself. Also, wolfsbane must have meant the girl didn't want to become a beast even at the very height of the full moon. But the birth of her child was approaching inevitably. She'd never hide the truth from the midwives, so Belle fled together with her nephews."

Having said his fill, the old man fell silent, staring with chalk-white teary eyes at the nearby forest emerging from the fog. I asked the witch-doctor when he'd last seen the runaway.

Check for Umar Bonesetter's reaction failed

"Listen here, nimble one," the village witch-doctor cringed, upset. "If you don't wish to help me gathering plants, you can't expect me to help you. For a young buck such as yourself, it should be easy — you can gather everything you need in the blink of an eye. But for me, with my injured legs, having to wade through the swamp gathering blackberries and currants..."

Mission received: Plants for the Witch-Doctor 1/3

Mission class: Class-based, training

Description: Gather five bunches of Swamp Currant, Swamp Blackberry and Swamp Horsetail for Umar Bonesetter

Reward: 160 Exp., Herbalism skill +1

So, that was how I was supposed to level Herbalism! Instead of wandering through the dangerous forest at night, shivering at every rustling in the bushes and constantly fearing an encounter with a blood-thirsty monster, I could have just walked up to the witch-doctor and leveled Herbalism in training quests. On the other hand, how could my goblin have gone to the human village earlier, knowing that he would have been instantly sent to respawn due to his low Charisma and -20 penalty to human reaction? Also, I wouldn't have managed to come during the day and, at night, people tend to sleep, so the gates of Stonetown would have been closed!

I looked in my inventory. I had the plants I needed and in sufficient quantity, so I was free to just complete the first witch-doctor mission right away. However, I only needed to gather a few more plants to reach Herbalism level seven, so it would be stupid to waste the free level-up. There was still time before the ogre and naiad would arrive, so I found out from the old man where to go to reach the nearest swamp and headed off to gather plants. It wasn't far, and also the mission was very simple — the plants he asked for grew densely nearby so, twenty minutes later, I returned with my Herbalism skill already at level seven.

Umar Bonesetter was still sitting on the log, speaking peacefully with the wood nymph. I walked up and handed the old man the plants he requested in silence.

Mission completed: Plants for the witch-doctor 1/3

Experience received: 160 Exp.

Herbalism skill increased to level 8!

"Good! What took you so long?" the old man exclaimed joyfully, stashing the bundles of herbs in his rumpled and dirty sack. "Alright then, I'll answer your question, as promised. I last saw Belle on the same day the undying came, packing our village to the brim. It was some time in the middle of the day. I’d be more exact, but I don’t remember. She was standing by the dock and gathering water from the river in birch-bark buckets."

I felt like a light-bulb switched on over my head. That was it! River. Boats. How hadn't we guessed that right away?! Based on the way the wood nymph turned toward me with her eyes burning in enthusiasm, my sister was thinking the same. But then, she froze, grew sad and wrote me out a private message.

"Somehow, the timing isn't coming together. This means Belle must have run from Stonetown BEFORE we killed the first wargs. The death of the shapeshifters couldn't have been what spooked her. She was already gone."

I answered my sister, also in a private message:

"It seems she didn't know about the death of the eleven wargs, but fled anyway. Her due date must have been growing near, and she was afraid to be revealed. Or maybe she left later and the old man simply didn't see her for those few days. But taking a path down the river really does suggest itself — I mean, we didn’t find any footprints on land, and a boat would be the simplest way for a pregnant lady to get far away from the village."

"Have any boats disappeared from Stonetown recently?" I asked Umar Bonesetter directly, to which I got another indignant facial expression from the old man, and a second quest about engaging my main skill for the witch-doctor:

Mission received: Plants for the witch-doctor 2/3

Mission class: Class-based, training

Description: Gather ten bunches of Mountain Lily, Common Holly, Saint John's Wort of the Field, and Fire Poppy

Reward: 320 Exp., Herbalism skill +1

I read the description and froze briefly. I hadn’t seen any of these plants in my last few days of gaming. In fact, other than Fire Poppy — I had never seen any of these flowers at all. Naturally, I asked the old witch-doctor where they grew. The old man's answer was not at all to my liking:

"As a goblin, you should know better than me. Far as I know, whole fields of these poppies grow next to the village of Tysh, somewhere beyond the graveyard of burning skeletons."

That was absolutely unacceptable. Even riding the Gray Pack, getting to Tysh and back would take much more time than we could afford. Well, here goes nothing! I decided to offer the old witch-doctor another option:

"Listen, Umar Bonesetter. Even though the plants you want don't grow right under our feet, they are still very commonplace. There's plenty of them in the neighboring forests, and you can easily find them yourself or send someone else out after them. Instead, I’d like to offer you the true wealth of an Herbalist — I've got hundreds of the rarest plants drying on the second floor of the Cursed House — White Lily, Shaggy Currant, Goblin Berries, Wolfsbane, and Colorful Mandrake. And near the stairs, there’s a way down into a cave with a stream. Down there, you'll find Red Stinker mushrooms, Cave Morels, Black Moss and lots of other stuff you'd never find on the surface. Let's make a deal — you can have all these riches for yourself, and I don’t have to stomp the wet road to Tysh in the rain."

By the way the old man's fingers were shaking, I could immediately tell that my offer was extremely interesting to the witch-doctor. Yet he was still hesitating:

"So, you want me to go to the Cursed House? Come on... You're undying, Amra, so you will be fine no matter what. But what if some monster living there eats me alive?!"

"Don't you worry about that, old man. Last night, I killed the creature that was murdering its inhabitants. It was called a Midnight Wraith. Now, it's all safe."

Successful check for Umar Bonesetter's reaction

Experience received: 40 Exp.

Trading Skill increased to level 12!

"You better not be lying, big-ears..." the old man grumbled, upset, trying to hide his joy and impatience with all his might. "Alright, I agree to the trade."

Mission completed: Plants for the witch-doctor 2/3

Experience received: 320 Exp.

Herbalism skill increased to level 9!

Mission completed: Plants for the witch-doctor 3/3

Experience received: 480 Exp.

Herbalism skill increased to level 10!

The witch-doctor considered the goods I offered valuable enough to immediately complete two steps of his quest?! Say what you will but that was unexpected. I smiled ear to ear in satisfaction, but my joy wasn't long-lived:

"No, no boats have disappeared from Stonetown. All three of them are still at the dock. Go check for yourself."

It seemed to me that the old man was really glad that he'd managed to put me in a bind with his answer and trade such banal information for a whole load of valuable plants. And indeed, Umar Bonesetter was quite pleased with himself. He even explained the reason:

"Understand, goblin, the run-away lady was very kind to me, so I don't want anyone finding her, much less pestering or threatening her. So, as long as you don't have any more questions for me, I'll be on my way — I'll need to get a cart for your plants."

The witch-doctor stood with a creak and slowly walked toward his home, leaning on his cane. He was just seven steps away when my sister shouted out to him:

"Umar, can you tell me anything about Belle's nephews? Or are you going to make me complete some task to get the truth?"

The healer turned unhurriedly and frowned. Just when I’d decided we wouldn’t be getting an answer, the old man surprised me:

"Sure, I'll tell you about those two. What's to hide? They’re Belle’s niece and nephew. The boy’s name is Dar, and the girl is called Dara. They’re around twelve or thirteen. A pair of thieves, villains, and hooligans — not much more to be said about those two young whippersnappers. If something went missing in our village, or a child was hurt, there could be no doubt it was their doing. A couple of born criminals, whose misdeeds can only be recouped by hard labor, or even the chopping block. They have no education, no discipline, and no respect for their elders. And also, the girl is no better than her brother. Completely hopeless. The villagers punished them many times: caning, locking them out in the cold, and even bringing a whipping post into the center of Stonetown... Nothing helped. When their aunt wasn't so big-bellied, Belle reined them in at least somewhat. She'd give them a good thrashing with either the rod or the whip. It was so intense that I could hear their hollering all the way at the other end of the village. Those two madcaps were afraid of her. They obeyed her. But when she got heavy, there was no longer any control. I'll be honest: I was quite glad to hear that those hooligans were finally out of our village. You can be sure no one was too upset about that."

After these words, the old man spit on the ground in annoyance and walked into Stonetown. And at that very moment, the skies opened up, and a real downpour began. The witch-doctor, displaying a surprising agility for such a hoar-headed old man, stuck his cane under his armpit and hopped like a hare into the village. My sister and I, on the other hand, had to quickly run under the nearest wide-branched tree in order not to get soaked. There, I voiced a thought:

"I'll be direct. It sounds like these kids were pretty rough around the edges. Perhaps, we'll be able to try and find the three of them by asking in the neighboring villages about two hell-raising youths. If not, we clearly won't get anywhere — this rain will wash away all their footprints."

My sister was looking at me strangely — with condemnation or even pity.

"Tim, you're really off your game today. 'Your girly' isn’t even around to distract you with her curves, but still there’s a big lag in your thinking. Even though he didn't want to, the old man gave a clear hint with his answers. You really didn't pick up on it?"

I considered it, but was forced to admit that I had absolutely no idea what my sister was talking about. The wood nymph had to chew over the facts before it reached me:

"Belle was seen at the dock on the same day all the players came en masse to Stonetown to kill the unique flying snake Kayervina. All three of the local boats are still at the dock, so the runaway couldn’t have used them. But there was one more boat, remember! On that very same day, a Naiad Trader you know well by the name of Max Sochnier came to Stonetown in his own boat, full of fresh and dried fish! But the naiad was forced to leave the boat full of goods and dive underwater, because PK-ers attacked him right next to Stonetown! Well, that fourth boat must have ended up somewhere!"

"Val, you're a genius! I owe you an ice cream," I smiled, admitting the soundness of my little sister's idea. "They're not likely to have tried taking the boat against the current — it's hard for a pregnant lady to constantly paddle like that, even with two teenagers. That means we should search down-river. But we won't catch the runaways on foot — the banks are swampy, overgrown and stony, plus they’re teeming with aggressive beasts of all kinds. We need a boat. A few boats, in fact. Our whole group won't fit in just one."

"You're being obtuse again, big-ears," said the mavka, shaking her head helplessly. "No normal flat-bottomed boat would be capable of holding our gigantic ogre. And also, you're forgetting that we are gonna have to hide as well. So, there's no reason to leave our pursuers such an obvious hint as stealing boats from Stonetown."

Valeria was right again, just like always. I opened my map. The naiad trader had previously sent me his discovered map, so I could see the whole path to the ocean. A few kilometers down from the village, the nameless river made a sharp bend, curving around a thickly forested narrow headland. I zoomed in as much as possible on that part, and noticed pine tree symbols. I figured that was exactly where I should be going. I wrote out private messages to the ogre and naiad, sending them the coordinates of the place we should meet. At the same time, I asked the ogre fortifier how long it would take him to build a sturdy raft capable of holding our whole group along with the wolves. An answer came back almost instantly:

"I have the tools with me. If there really is a good pine forest there with tall, straight trunks then, with my current skills, it should take an hour and a half to build a raft, two at most. Could be less, especially if I have help."

"We'll be sure to help you. After all, it's in our shared interest," I promised.

* * *

I'd never before had the chance to see the ogre fortifier at work. Without any exaggeration, I can say it was a fantastic and captivating spectacle. Fifty-year pines fell to his ax with incredible ease. Bark and twigs flew like from a fountain. The giant carried the thick logs as if they were reeds. An hour later, Shrekson Bastard was pushing the finished raft made of heavy, tightly lashed logs into the shallows, helping the others, then finally getting on it himself.

Although the rain had grown noticeably quieter, it was still not letting up for even a second. The sopping-wet wolves of the Gray Pack were shivering, pressed up one to the next, stumbling on the slippery logs as our craft bobbed in the water. The canines were staring longingly at the nearby shore, but still, none of them had the gall to disobey my orders. Taisha and Valerianna, hidden from the rain and cold wind under a black warg pelt, were clattering their teeth in syncopation. Tamina Fierce's children, the wolf riders Irek and Yunna, despite their unseasonably light clothing, were surprisingly vivacious and happy. The goblins were laughing and joking, not even trying to hide their joy and excitement.

The weather meant nothing to the ogre, and I also was bearing the icy rain with aplomb, just yawning occasionally, tired after a sleepless night. But Max Sochnier felt best of all. The fish-man was finally in his element, sitting on the bow of our raft, excitedly stabbing river fish with a harpoon and occasionally commanding the giant to steer in one direction or the other.

For the first few minutes of our trip, I was slightly worried for the sturdiness and steering of the raft, but a half an hour on, I was now fully reassured. We were traveling at an even pace, going around obstacles and sandbanks with no effort, easily snaking around all the river's curves. According to the naiad, the path to the ocean should take about six hours, so I was hoping to get some restful sleep, taking shelter from the rain under the warg pelts. But before I managed to find a comfortable spot on the back of the raft, Max Sochnier cried out hectically:

"To the right! Over there, in the reeds!"

I grew alarmed, throwing off the warg pelt and looking. In the reeds near the shore, I saw a half-sunken boat sticking out of the water.

"That's my boat! I recognize it!" the naiad continued, his bright red back fins extending in agitation.

The fish-man jumped off the float, quickly scooping with his webbed hands and tail, trying to dig out the sunken oar-boat.

"We should pull up on that shore and do a quick search!" I ordered, and the ogre fortifier turned the rudder sharply.

We made it through the thick patch of riverside reeds with some effort. I even had to cut a passage in them as the ogre jumped overboard and pushed our raft on shore. Finally, we came upon dry land. I was planning to assign the wolves a mission to search for signs of the people, but before I even had time, Irek had already shot up the bank and was calling the group to come see what he’d found.

It was a small hut, which looked to have been made relatively recently, a few days ago at most. The leaves on the branches it was made of were still green. Next to that, we found the remains of a fire pit and a ton of picked-clean bones from what looked to be a huge ruminant of some kind. The wolves came up to where we were standing, sniffed, then their fur bristled up and their tails went between their legs in fear. They scampered away from the remains of the feast. I though, took a closer look.

Successful Perception check

Experience received: 80 Exp.

On most of the bones, you could see the traces of sharp teeth and raw meat fibers. I picked up a few bones to make sure of my suspicions. Yes, the predators, whoever they were, had torn their prey to bits and devoured it. But there was something else — some of the bones had clearly been boiled in a pot. When I told my companions this, their reaction was somewhat surprising:

"Hey, we could stand to eat something, too," the ogre mumbled. "Since morning, I've had a yellow fork and knife icon flashing in the corner of my screen, and just now, it went red..."

For some reason, everyone turned toward me, as if I was supposed to be carrying food for the group. Where did they think I was hiding it?! My big-eared troglodyte was hungry himself, which I told them immediately.

"I could catch fish. I've got tackle," the naiad offered. "That would take some time, though, and I'd need bait."

"There's a crap-ton of bait by the river!" I answered, slapping yet another a red fly on my face and offering up its little corpse for the common cause. "One fisherman is not enough to feed our whole big team, though. We should go on the hunt and catch something bigger all together. I'll call my wyvern right now. She can look for prey nearby from above."

I hadn't brought VIXEN to Stonetown for obvious reasons — a horde of wolf-riding goblins was sure to attract unhealthy attention from the locals as it was. But then, if our cohort had been traveling with a three-meter flying snake, we surely would have been the object of heated discussion for many days to come, a fact that would certainly not have gone unnoticed by the undying on my trail. At any rate, it took the level-16 Royal Forest Wyvern just one minute to fly in to my call. The snout of the flying snake was smeared with fresh blood.

"What a smart cookie you are! You caught something and ate it all on your own!" I said, stroking the dangerous beast affectionately on the shoulders, at the same time noticing that my pet had leveled up and increased in size.

My forehead pressed to the head of my winged mount, I tried to communicate the mission to her as clearly as possible in vibrant images — find large creatures from the air in the forest nearby. Enough to feed our whole big team. I do not know how well she understood but, after some time, VIXEN flew off, flapping her wings and disappearing into the low rainclouds.

"Amra, what mission did you choose for your mount in the settings: scouting, patrolling territory or hunting?" my sister inquired. I answered honestly that I did not know myself, and told her about my experimental approach to communicating with the wyvern.

The wood nymph shook her head doubtfully.

"I don't think that will work. There's a normal game interface, with popup menu describing all possible options for missions one can give pets and mounts. The option 'search for large game' is not among them, though. You could have tried using a combination of existing commands, but I’m not sure that would work either..."

Valerianna then went silent, though, because VIXEN was already back. Flapping her wide wings, wet from the rain, the green wyvern set down on the grass and crawled in my direction, not so much walking with her legs as slithering like a snake. The emerald green winged beast bowed her head and carefully touched it to mine. Before my eyes, there came a kaleidoscope of pictures, reminiscent of screenshots taken from flight.

Breaks in the clouds. Riverbank visible. Thick brush. In it, a big animal is standing and chewing young shoots contemplatively. It’s a huge Bull Moose. Wide hooves and branching antlers. Powerful back and hump. Thick black beard. Column legs. And a red skull symbol, meaning that the animal surpassed the wyvern in level by more than twenty.

I tried to figure out where these pictures might have been taken. The river was behind me. Higher up the river, it gradually turned to the left. Yep, this was about what it should have looked like from the sky. And as a matter of fact, higher up the river, I could see a hill overgrown with brush in the distance. It seemed that was precisely where we'd find our prey. I loudly announced as much to my friends:

"A half kilometer that way, there's a big moose grazing in the bushes. It's approximately level forty or fifty. I say we go hunt it."

In reply, I got a long silence, then Max Sochnier inquired cautiously:

"Fifty? And what if it decides to come hunt us? I mean, we're non-combat characters. We can't fight like that!"

"Amra, we won't even be able to seriously wound it with such a high difference in levels!" the ogre fortifier exclaimed, supporting his friend's doubts.

I exchanged surprised glances with my sister. The wood nymph didn't understand their unplaced hesitation, either.

"I’m sure we can take down a level-fifty animal as a group without any losses. But no one will force you to run at the hardened creature with your trident and sledge-hammer," I reassured the construction worker and trader. "It's just an NPC animal, even if high level. We can take it down with tricks!"

"That's right!" my sister chimed in, bolstering my point. "We can dig out a pit like the one near the Cursed House. We can stick sharpened stakes in the bottom, put branches over top and draw the moose toward us! It will all be very simple! The main thing is us going far enough away so the animal won't see us or suspect a trap."

"Uncy Amra, I can make a little horn out of bark that will bellow like a moose in spring," Yunna offered. "Shaman Kaiak Badgerleg taught me. It isn't spring now, but a mature moose will race to the call to catch a glimpse of whatever freak dared invade its territory."

And that's what we decided to do. The ogre fortifier was working at the speed of an excavator with a normal shovel, and had already been breaking fresh ground for several minutes. The space was surely big enough for a large moose, now. As he dug, the others had been gathering logs and branches, which we'd use both as stakes and cover for the trap. Taisha and I placed the branches over the pit — we were the two in the group with the highest Agility, which meant we had the lowest chance of falling into the hole.

All that was left was to solve the last problem — how to lure the animal toward the trap and force it to stand on top? Here, my sister came to our aid:

"Give me a few minutes, and I'll make an illusion of an insolent young male moose. But first, I'll need a picture of a moose..."

Valerianna Quickfoot froze motionless, and I figured my sister must have taken off the virtual reality helmet, minimized Boundless Realm and was looking at pictures of moose on her monitor, trying to find the most suitable representation. A minute later, my sister came back to life:

"Found one! Alright, go hide in the woods! And tell Shrekson to blow the horn — he'll be able to make the loudest sound!"

We laid down in a streambed, sending the wolves and wyvern away, so they wouldn't upset our scheme. The deafening bellow that rang out was more reminiscent of a locomotive whistle than an animal's call, but Yunna and Irek assured me it was working exactly as intended. Shrekson ran up to us and also dove into the ditch. Nevertheless, nothing happened.

"Didn't work?" I supposed, but the wood nymph stuck a finger to her lips, calling for silence.

"Quiet! He's coming," Valerianna whispered, barely audible. "I see him on the mini-map. You'll see him soon as well, big-ears."

Not even a minute later, I saw a red skull marker on the map. The moose was slowly approaching, taking long breaks to look or sniff at something. Something here was setting off the animal's sixth sense.

Successful Perception check

Experience received: 16 Exp.

Wind! That’s must have been it! The wind was blowing over the trap. The moose could smell the wolves, goblins, and other creatures. All those smells were bound to be obvious, yet there was no scent from its rival — a self-assured young moose! I wrote my theory in a private message to my sister.

"Well, what can I do with that? I can't create illusory smells."

So, I answered the wood nymph:

"Change the bait. Make it a female moose."

"Tim, this isn't the season. And still, there wouldn't be any smell."

"I've got an idea! What about a young and stupid wolf, who not only won't run away, but also has the gall to bare his teeth at the proud and strong moose! There is a wolf smell, so it might work. The moose will want to teach the impudent wolf a lesson and chase it off his territory."

Valerianna wriggled her lips, conjuring something or just repeating the new mission to herself out loud. It worked! The Bull Moose saw the newly-created illusion and started trumpeting out to the whole forest so loud that the sound Leon made earlier now seemed like nothing but a pitiful parody. This bellow was not only deafening, and literally at that, it hit all of us with a whole array of unpleasant effects:

Damage taken: 34 (level-31 Fear spell)

3 second Panic effect

15 second Deaf effect

Successful Perception check

Experience received: 80 Exp.

Successful Constitution check

Experience received: 160 Exp.

Health level: 179/216

I can't really say what two negative effects Amra managed to avoid, but those he'd been unable to stop were bad enough as it was. I got control back over my character but, by that time, the terrified goblin had already started racing off through the forest, not at all caring about finding a path. I collapsed in the grass, hoping sincerely that the bull moose wouldn't pay any mind to a little goblin hopping away in the distance, and would instead be distracted by its intended target. Irek dashed past me, his mouth open, screaming out wordlessly — he had also clearly fallen to panic. Finally, my hearing returned. Behind me, I heard the elated clamoring of my friends. I could make out distinct shouts of joy. Had it worked? The NPC marker on the mini-map changed from yellow to aggressive red, but it wasn't moving and was approximately in the spot where we'd dug the trap pit. Now more confident, I started off toward the trap first at a fast clip, then at a run. Still, though, my friends reached the trap first.

Level-48 Bull Moose

The powerful beast had fallen exactly the way we’d planned but, by some unimaginable luck, it had managed to avoid being seriously wounded by the stakes at the bottom of the pit. A few of the sharpened wooden spears had torn through the animal's hide or scraped along the ribs, leaving abundant bloody lesions. But the moose's life bar hadn't really gone down much and was still in the green. What was more, regeneration was restoring the moose's health faster than the bleeding was bringing it down. A minute later, the life bar of the cornered animal was already back up to maximum.

The moose stood looking at us in silence, though he probably could have given his terrifying bellow another try. It might just get rid of us. The moose slowly turned his head and looked over the weak creatures who'd captured him one after the next. When my turn finally came, I saw the proud beast staring at me. Looking into his teary eyes, intelligent in a seemingly human way, I started feeling unwell. Yes, I understood perfectly that the being before me was nothing but a piece of programming code made to be slaughtered in a virtual game. There was no true moral imperative stopping us from roasting its meat over a fire and simply gorging ourselves but, for some reason, I felt unwell. I didn't know how to explain to my comrades that I'd changed my mind and no longer wanted to kill the handsome moose, but suddenly the ogre fortifier burst out:

"Friends, I'm taking a pass. I can't watch him in torment like this. Split him up, but leave me out of it. I won't touch the moose meat. I'd rather go hungry or make do with mindless plants and fish."

I wasn't expecting such sentimentality from our giant. Although, I was reminded that seeing the torched goblin village of Tysh had also made a very strong impression on Shrekson, giving him a nervous condition and insomnia. Despite his thick-skinned appearance, the former construction worker was quite impressionable and kind-hearted. The ogre turned away and, with a decisive step, started tramping off in the opposite direction of the trap pit.

"This moose would make a great mount. It could support the weight of the ogre..." the wood nymph said thoughtfully.

All at once, everyone suddenly turned toward Shrekson. The ogre stopped sharply, as if he'd hit a stone wall, turned around and... A miracle happened — the red dot of the moose in the trap instantly changed to blue, meaning ally. Over the antlered head of the animal, there appeared a name: "Lil_Timbo."

"Just a name, no worse than Vixen or Pirate," our giant hurried to assure everyone, though no one had really looked surprised or laughed at the strange, fairly inappropriate name for the huge beast.

I didn't go help the moose out of the pit — there were plenty of helpers as it was, and the ogre would also have managed easily on his own. But, taking advantage of the commotion, I took a vial of the forest giant's blood:

Moose Blood (alchemy ingredient)

I walked a bit farther from the others back toward the shelter we'd found, crawled into it under the cover of the twigs and drank the vial down.

Achievement unlocked: Taste tester (14/1000)

My Sating the Thirst bar was practically filled, showing 18/20, so my goblin vampire could go another eighteen hours without the blood of any victims. And also, my desire to sleep was growing ever stronger. I was yawning practically nonstop. A little bit longer, and I would simply collapse from exhaustion.

I crawled out of my hiding spot and froze, drawn to some bizarre sounds. Not far from me, there was a muted combination of growling and whimpering. I entered Stealth Mode and walked toward it. I carefully moved back the bush branches and discovered the whole Gray Pack gathered in a little glade, digging into the earth with abandon. Intrigued, I walked up closer.

The wolves were throwing back the damp loose earth with determination, digging out a shallow pit. It was clear that the dirt was fresh and gave easily. There was something strange buried there. I pushed aside the forest predators, leaned over and pulled out a dirty canvas bag. I stepped back and emptied the contents onto the grass — I saw some rumpled rags, and a pair of battered woman's sandals. I stood up and started sorting through my findings.

Clothing. Village-woman’s clothing. On top was a dirty, very patchy old dress. It was unclear what color it had been originally. Along with it, I found a ripped sleeveless blouse and a pair of short canvas pants, or more likely, boy's shorts. Under that, there was a relatively clean, though also very wrinkled pinafore, a set of dirty work clothes, some cheap glass beads, a pair of well-worn woman's sandals, and a four-colored headband like the ones village girls put in their hair — identical to the one I had in my inventory.

Was that all? I looked carefully at the clothes laid out on the grass.

Successful Perception check

Experience received: 40 Exp.

On the dirty gray dress, I noticed and removed a long black hair stuck to the fabric. It was sixty centimeters long and too coarse to be from a human. I wrapped the strange hair around my fingers, trying to figure out what it belonged to.

Successful Perception check

Experience received: 80 Exp.

Warg tail hair (waste)

The runaways we were searching for had scuttled their boat, hunted and eaten their fill, after which they'd buried their old clothes in the depths of the forest and changed their human appearance for an animal one. It must have been a few days earlier. Now, the warg pack could be anywhere, and the ceaseless rain had made searching for their tracks cursed to failure from the get go...

release - June 2, 2017

Preorder here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XHPJG2S