Chapter 21 Time To Move On
We spent the next week trying to build the farm.
It felt odd, the rhythm of the days. I tried to remind myself that, on the outside, we were still supposed to be on vacation.
Time was passing, but if everything were normal, we’d still be in here.
Only we’d be on the road, adventuring, instead of trying to establish a home in a strange land.
Reggie and Ray built a smokehouse, while Brynn and Thornhold managed to catch three of the wild boar alive, one of them a male.
They tricked them into chasing them back to the house, where they raced into a pen Ray built.
We weren’t sure if we’d be able to tame them, but the game had programmed that possibility into the Syms and so, we were doing our best to capitalize on it.
Seeing they were the most talented with woodwork, Liesel asked Reggie and Ray to build the smokehouse, while Brynn and Thornhold went after goats.
We needed to build a herd for milk and cheese.
Through some cautious planning, and a little bit of luck, we now had four nanny goats and a buck whom they named Bill E.
Meanwhile, Geoff and I had taken over the hunting duties, and we left every morning—early, and returned before dark could fall.
We’d brought in several more turkeys, before tackling a hunt for venison.
There was a massive elk who we’d seen, and we tracked him deep into the woods.
Together, we brought him down, and—using a cart that Liesel had mended—we carted him home, where Liesel taught us how to butcher the beast.
The meat was hanging in the smoke house and we were gathered in the kitchen for dinner.
Star was sitting beside me. She was growing fast—far faster than a normal cat. I patted the Frazzle and she let out a yawn, mixed with a purr.
“Well,” I said. “We’ve been here a week and a half.”
“Yeah,” Thornhold said, stretching out on the straw-stuffed cushion that served as a beanbag chair. “I take it we haven’t heard a word from the devs? I took my watch off so it wouldn’t get damaged while we were building the pens.”
“My watch didn’t go off. How about yours?” I asked Liesel. “Any private news?”
She shook her head. “Not a peep, I’m afraid.
Tomorrow, you should go down to the houses near the trailhead, to pick up the new clothing.
It’s a good thing you ordered it a couple days ago, given that Farra—the seamstress—won’t be getting in any more cloth from the outside, not until they fix the game.
So you were wise to put your orders in before she runs out. ”
“Yeah, we need the clothes,” Reggie said. “So…not to be a dick, but are we going to go out on the road? I mean, we’re building a life here, but Erenye still has that key around her neck, and I can’t help but think that’s dangerous.”
“It is,” I said. “It’s just going to make me a target. If that necromancer is still alive, I’m in trouble. Or anybody else who wants to break Devastey free, for whatever reason. The key won’t come off my head unless we destroy her, or until someone destroys me.”
“Then we should hit the road. Liesel, will you be able to run the farm while we’re gone?”
She sighed. “It’s not going to be easy,” she said. “I wish we had one other person here.”
“Maybe we can find somebody to come help you,” I said. “I’m leery of taking Star with us, because she’s not full-grown yet.”
“You can leave her here with me,” Liesel said. “I’ll take care of her for you.”
“Listen, I wanted to ask you about something,” Ray said. “I remember hearing that Abarria was going to have a major update days before we got started on our adventure. In all the excitement, I forgot to check on whether that went through?”
“The waypoints!” I jumped up. “I totally forgot about them.” Turning to Liesel, I tried to contain my hope. The waypoints update would be a gamechanger, literally.
Liesel nodded. “Yes! With everything that’s gone on, I forgot, as well. Survival kind of takes over, you know. The update went through the day before you came into the game. The devs always debug before launching, so they should work.”
“Wait, I didn’t even know there was supposed to be an update,” Geoff said. “I didn’t have time to log on and play before my trip here—I was pulling overtime. What about waypoints?”
I turned to him. “Abarria decided to institute waypoints. So many players asked for them instead of only having a portal spell—it’s so high level, and the scrolls were so expensive.
There should be waypoints in the different sectors and biomes.
That means we can travel between other places and here, like teleportation. ”
“The thing is,” Liesel said, “you’ll have to discover the waypoints as you go along, and activate them. Your watches will activate them, and allow you to travel to any other waypoint you’ve been to.”
“Where’s the one in this sector? I assume it’s near the launching pad?” I asked.
“Not necessarily. Let’s see if I have the information on my laptop. We employees get all the updates on the maps, so I should have gotten it the day before it was deployed. Let me check.”
Geoff was unusually somber.
“What’s wrong?” Reggie asked.
He sighed. “I lost my watch, remember? Does that mean I won’t be able to travel through them?”
Liesel, who was firing up her laptop, froze. Then she sighed. “I’m afraid so. Let me check—I may have an old watch you can use. But if I don’t, yeah, you won’t be able to use them.”
Geoff wandered over to look out the window. It was early evening. Outside, smoke rose from the smokehouse, and even from here, we could smell venison and turkey smoking.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked. During our daily hunting trips we’d gotten to know each other a bit better. Geoff was a good guy, and I liked him. I felt terrible about how the worry over his wife and child were eating at him.
“I guess. I just…I keep beating myself up for accepting this trip in the first place. I should have made my wife get a refund. I know she wanted to treat me, but how could I accept a gift that was this expensive. And look at what’s happened?
I wonder if it’s not a punishment, for being selfish. ” He leaned on the windowsill.
“A lot of people are affected by the game breaking, dude. If you think some old white guy in the sky is punishing everybody for something you did, then that says a lot about the belief system, doesn’t it?
This wasn’t a punishment. It was all too human—an attack by one giant corporation on another.
We’re just collateral damage.” I patted his shoulder.
“Collateral damage…I guess that’s better than being the target. How many of us are stuck in here, do you think?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I wonder if Liesel knows. I’m just grateful we happened to meet her. She’s saved our asses, in more ways than one.”
“I guess so—”
“I found it!” Liesel said, calling us back over.
We gathered around the table.
“I do have a map as to where the waypoint in my sector is. Employees don’t get overall park information, because we generally wouldn’t need it.
The waypoint for this sector—the Dark Woodland Sector—is found inside the wood, about two miles down the trailhead, then off to the left about a quarter-mile along a side path.
I’d estimate about an hour’s walk from here.
You can use the other waypoints to get back home, without too much trouble.
’ She looked up, relieved. “That means when you cross into other sectors, look for the waypoints as soon as you can.”
“I suppose tomorrow, we should set out. Since Zaran stole the key from the priestess of the Summer Kingdom, and she’s the one who imprisoned Devastey, that means that we should seek her out.
We can’t go looking for him—the necromancer would kill us to get it back.
” I shivered. “How far is the Summer Kingdom from here?” I asked. “Do you have any maps?”
“Yes, let me get one.” Liesel sorted through a bundle of documents and pulled out an actual, old-fashioned map. She spread it out. Somehow, Abarria looked so much less daunting on a fantasy map, than it did now that we were in it for real.
“Let’s see,” she said, we’re here—” She pointed to a forested region, then began to trace a path.
“The Dark Woodland. And the Summer Kingdom…well, it’s through the forest, then you go here—to the Cryptic Marshes.
After that you travel over the Mountains of Kartell, where Zaran is from.
And the Summer Kingdom is on the other side. ”
I glanced over the map. It was huge—Abarria was an open-ended game, and the Dark Woodland only covered a fraction of its surface. Seeing the unending expanse of land and water stretching out before us once again drove home the fact that we were truly in a different world.
“Each sector has its own waypoint, at least. It will make it easier to return.” I glanced at Star. “I can’t leave her for too long.”
“She’ll be all right with me, and this is your home, for as long as you need.”
“I’m going to stay here with you,” Geoff said.
“I can’t chance being stuck, without being able to use a waypoint, especially if they fix the game and I can leave.
I need to be near the beginning, you know.
I hope you don’t mind,” he added. “I can help Liesel and help protect the place against intruders.”
I nodded, disappointed, but I understood. “Of course. I’d make the same decision. We’ll be fine. And I do feel better knowing Liesel won’t be here alone.”
“I can go out hunting, too.” Geoff looked almost embarrassed. “I feel odd, because you saved my life, but—”
“But nothing, dude. It’s all right,” Thornhold said. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
“Well, let’s make up your backpacks,” Liesel said. “You’ll need food for the trip, and you should take some gold coins to trade with, at least. You’ll also need better weapons, so we’ll go talk to Issel this afternoon—he’s a local weaponsmith. All right, we’ve plenty to do.”
If she was disappointed, she didn’t show it.
We scurried around, under her direction, preparing for the trip.
All the while, I kept thinking of Zaran, and if he knew the key was missing.
Would he be able to track it? Would he figure out that whoever stole it probably needed to find Devastey and head for her prison?
And we’d have to go over the mountains, which meant dealing with winter weather.
With a million thoughts racing through my mind, I picked up Star and gave her a long cuddle. “It’s going to be hard leaving you behind, but until you’re grown strong and big, it’s safer for you here.” But inside, I couldn’t help but think that no place in Abarria was safe.