As Dakkon approached, the boy shivered violently. Dakkon drew together his forefinger, middle finger, and thumb, then slowly opened them as he formed a slightly larger than boy-sized Hotspot. After a few minutes, the boy’s shaking ceased and he lurched frantically awake, backing against the wall cowering before the looming, shrouded figure before him.
“Easy now, boy,” said Dakkon. “I seem to be running into you an awful lot. How’s your arm?”
The boy clutched at his properly tended to arm and looked up without speaking, his expression set in some middle ground between fear and defiance.
“Looks like someone patched you up well enough,” Dakkon said with a smile. “Have you given any thought to looking for honest work yet?”
“What would you know?” the boy snapped. “Think folk line up to hire boys ‘at smell like piss to sell sweetcakes to pretty ladies?”
Dakkon looked thoughtful. “You make a good point. I wouldn’t hire you. So why not get cleaned up?”
The boy just stared at him coldly.
“There’s a river running through town and a bay nearby. If you’re in a spending mood, I’m sure that some portion of silver can purchase a bath.”
The boy looked as though his reticence would melt away at Dakkon’s mention of the unexpected aid from earlier in the night, but he remained quiet.
“Look,” said Dakkon, “I don’t know your story, and I have no intention of helping you find your place in the world, but I’d be a bastard if I didn’t lend you a hand after stumbling across you like this in the night.” Dakkon grabbed 20 gold and 20 silver from his coin purse and held it out to the boy. “So, here’s an offer you can’t refuse. I’ll give you this much for that raggedy patchwork of a blanket.”
The opportunity was singular for the boy, and he offered over the rags from his back without a word of protest for how cold the night ahead promised to be to him, snatching up the coins greedily.
Dakkon looked over the blanket. “Disgusting!” he said. Dakkon created a boy-sized Hotspot on the blanket, gave it a fold to see if the effect would hold on fabric, and when satisfied that it would, he tossed the blanket back to the boy and said, “I’ve changed my mind. The new deal is that you’ll need to dispose of this tomorrow morning. Leaving it in an alleyway would be a disservice to the city.”
Without waiting for the boy to reply, Dakkon turned back towards his destination, and strode off boldly around the next corner, where he pulled his traveler’s cloak tightly around his body and shuffled along to keep warm amongst the newly discovered cold of the night.
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By the dawn of the next morning, Dakkon was properly equipped to set out for adventure. He had traveling gear, maps, a horse, and—after a small amount of haggling—some trail-ready meat and a refill for his two canteens. He decided he’d like to put his meeting with that child out of his mind. It wasn’t his problem. The boy wasn’t even a real person. Still, seeing a young boy fending for himself against the elements was a vivid image he hadn’t been prepared to see. Players can respawn again and again, but NPCs are bound by a different set of rules. In other virtual worlds—though a pale comparison to the one he stood in now—he’d never been faced with considering the lives of non-player characters, but Chronicle wasn’t so black and white. In this game, every NPC has a family, and any brigand could be the sole provider for his children.
Dakkon bought a few apples and halved one on his way to the stables where he picked up his horse, Nightshade, who he greeted with an offered half-apple. Nightshade accepted the gift, happily, and acquiesced as the stable hands saddled him. Then, man and horse walked unabated out of town, after the small matter of stabling fees were settled to mutual satisfaction.
Although Nightshade’s mane showed all the evidence of pampered grooming from the stables, the horse was eager to discard its comeliness with a run down the dusty road. Dakkon let his steed set its own fast pace while he focused more on how he might prevent muscle ache and saddle sores, setting aside any thought of training for a later date. Only minutes on the trail, Dakkon knew there would be no hiding from the aches of travel, so, instead of worrying, he gave into the thrill of riding a powerful, fleet of foot animal. At last, Dakkon was starting off his journey as a respectable adventurer should—with travel preparations, map, horse, and gear instead of tattered clothes, no sense of bearing, and a desperate need to find work.
After an hour of riding, Dakkon walked alongside of Nightshade, giving the animal time to rest. Dakkon really knew nothing about horses. Was he overworking Nightshade, or under working him? Dakkon didn’t know, and regretted not having the foresight to ask someone while he was at the stables. Still, he was making much better time than would have been possible only by foot, so he was happy to punctuate his ride with periodic walks. To ensure his mount's health, the safe bet was simply to rest Nightshade before the horse became too tired to continue—which helped to put Dakkon’s mind at ease. However, after several rotations on and off his mount, Dakkon began to suspect that, more so than his mount, he was the one who needed the breaks.
Horse and rider came to and continued past the northerly road to Greenburne, riding westward on a road which would eventually let them turn north toward Turlin. Dakkon spared only a passing thought for the events that transpired in the little town he now passed—the betrayal, the quest, getting his horse, and meeting his friends who were all… nearly twice his level now. He would need to work hard just to catch up. He’d need to really struggle if he wanted to surpass them, but he would do whatever it took. He was grateful for Cline's friendly competitive rivalry. It would help to keep him focused. Dakkon set his jaw, determined. He wasn’t going to lose.
After another three hours passed, gaining Dakkon two ranks in his ‘Rider’ trait and without spotting a single other traveler on the road, horse and rider found themselves arrived at the expected pair of crossed roads which would guide them to their next destination. Both roads were wide and well-traveled, however there still wasn’t a person in sight. Dakkon expected that here, in Chronicle—the game where even NPCs have lives and backstories—that at least one business minded individual would have set up shop here to reap easy profits from wanting passersby. The lack of anyone made the scene feel eerie and isolated.
A road sign lay vandalized by the side of the road. Dakkon decided now would be a good time for a more formal rest, and to double check his maps for any foresight about the trip to come. Dakkon quickly found a nearby stream which he allowed Nightshade to drink from for a few minutes, then sat beneath the partial cover of tree branches and leaves where he pulled out his maps.
Dakkon’s more expensive and credible map showed the area drawn neatly to scale, but with limited detail. Taking a right turn to head north would lead him to Turlin, where friends awaited him with open arms. Well, it could very well be with clenched fists from Melee. Dakkon hadn’t really been able to draw a bead on her yet. If he happened to continue straight west instead, he would wind up in a much closer city named Derrum before long. Then there was another city, named Tian, about the same total distance away as Turlin. If Dakkon were to take a left turn and travel south, then he would run into several small settlements which could very easily provide him with quests to get started, but the next real city in that direction looked to be about twice as far as he’d have to travel by choosing north or west.
Dakkon took out his cheaper, more hastily-drawn map and his eyes quickly settled on an annotation next to Tian, the second city to the west. It simply read, ‘Good food. Fast XP.’ Dakkon looked for similar annotations next to the other cities, but could only find a tiny, barely noticeable ‘bandits’ written several times next to the road where he rested. Bandits may explain why there was no merchant set up at the crossroads, but surely any bandit problem would have been dealt with by now. This had to be a major trade route between cities.