Austen

  After an awkward scene in the cockatrice den, all it takes is a single squirrel to bring Sherbie back to his usual bubbly self, and it’s like a cloud has been lifted from over the sun. I hadn’t realized how much his brooding silence would affect me, but I’m glad things are back to normal now. Sherbie is happy and even more hyper than usual as he figures out all the fun things he can do with his new companion. With this, my ruthless slaughter of the cockatrice’s helpless progeny seems to have been forgiven, and more importantly—I have two brand new shields to show for my trouble!

  [Captain Moon’s Shield level 21, Captain Moon’s trusted shield. It has seen him through many battles.

  +2 Strength

  +3 Constitution

  Shield durability: 3300/3300]

  Not quite as much durability as the shields I made with tetranium ore, but I’ll take the bonuses to my stats. Besides, I can never have enough shields.

  “Rev, check this guy out!” Sherbie interrupts my thoughts as he begins chasing a frolicking fox. It’s one of many woodland creatures we’ve seen since starting out on this quest, but suddenly Sherbie is very interested in it.

  I ignore their antics and go back to collecting windberries for the quest giver Mary. When I get attacked by some angry giant hornets, I don’t even yell for Sherbie’s help, and kite them in my aura until they all drop dead. Then I go back to picking berries while he plays around with the fox. By the time I’ve picked enough for both of us, he comes trotting back with a wide grin, and two animal companions by his side.

  “Rev! I’ve got another pet. Meet Hannah!” he says triumphantly, gesturing to the fox. Curious, I check her stats.

  [Silver Fox

  Level: 1

  HP: 45

  Constitution: 2

  Strength: 2

  Agility: 7

  Intelligence: 4

  Skills: Dig]

  “This is so much fun!” he says, for some reason out of breath as he gestures excitedly to his animal companions. “I never even thought about getting a pet until you gave me Raspberry, and now I realize I can have three! I wonder if I can have even more?”

  “I really have no idea. But, shouldn’t you choose animal companions that are going to be of use to us? Neither the squirrel nor the fox can fight.”

  “They don’t have to fight! They just have to be cute. Isn’t that right, Raspberry?” He tickles the squirrel on his shoulder beneath its chin and it chitters happily.

  “Sure. It’s all cute and fuzzy games until Hannah gets hungry…”

  “What was that?”

  “Never mind,” I say, turning quickly. “Let’s go turn in our quest. I have enough berries for both of us.”

  Ignoring Sherbie’s thanks, I decide I really don’t mind him amassing a menagerie of woodland critters for animal companions. While it’s true something with a lot of damage like a dire wolf or a griffin would be of more use to us, I’m happy so long as Sherbie’s happy.

  We turn in our quest and get our pies, which boost our character’s agility by one point for twenty minutes. Nothing special. Mary the pie lady was a woman I happened to run into while trudging randomly through the forest after my brief falling out with Sherbie. So far as I can see, there are no other players here, accepting her quest. They’re all on the main road, some few hundred feet away, sheltered from our view by the thick trees.

  Because we helped Mary with one quest, she enlists our help once more in delivering a pie to her sister Sherry who lives deeper in the forest down this little trail, promising us a reward of a silver piece. It’s really not much, but it’s not too far out of our way, and if I know these kinds of games, doubtless Mary’s sister is going to have more quests for us to complete once we reach her, which will yield more experience, and perhaps some interesting rewards.

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  I talk it over briefly with Sherbie, and of course he’s on board. So we take the quests, and the pies, and continue down the path. On the way Sherbie gets sidetracked more than once, now completely enthralled with each creature he sees.

  How long is this new found animal obsession of his going to go on for? I wonder as he stops me for the third time to pet a random robin. Sherbie strikes me as the kind of guy who wouldn’t have the attention span to keep up a single hobby for long, but in the meantime it’s like taking a walk with a fricking Disney princess over here…

  After a few minutes we reach Sherry’s charming cottage, and I’m kept busy running her fetch quests for a while while Sherbie continues to be distracted by the animals. Before I know it he comes running back to me with an otter he’s named Waffle. I don’t even bother checking the stats. That thing looks about as ferocious as a puppy.

  A pity, I think with a frown. We could really used a damage dealer in this party… I’m starting to wish I’d let him take the cockatrice egg…

  I’m far from Sherry’s home, hunting down a rare spawn for my quest and beginning to question whether we’ve strayed too far when we stumble across another fairytale cottage deep in the woods. It’s built right into an enormous tree that stretches high above it, set on the river with a waterwheel. From the looks of things, it seems abandoned.

  “Ah!” Sherbie cries excitedly. “It’s Sleeping Beauty’s cottage! We found it after all!”

  “Yeah,” I agree. “It’s kinda neat…”

  Just then at the same time my friend and I spot a roly poly brown fluff ball just ahead.

  “Rev!” he hisses to me excitedly. “Rev, it’s a bear cub!”

  Hm. A bear could be useful. More useful than an otter, at least.

  “Well,” I give him an encouraging nod. “Go see if you can make friends with it.”

  I watch Sherbie trip off after it, and it only occurs to me then that a bear cub is rarely alone in the wild.

  “Sherbie, wait!”

  But my warning is too late. The she-bear comes crashing through the undergrowth with a terrifying roar, and my heart sinks as I watch her charge straight for Sherbie.

  Without stopping to think, I rush in, throwing myself between the bear and my healer in an instant. She crashes into me with such force I think it will break my arm.

  I am momentarily stunned by the pain, even if it is reduced, and she uses that to her advantage, hauling back with her massive paws to swipe right across my face.

  Fart!

  I disappear in a cloud of gas, and reappear just a few inches beyond her reach, avoiding the swipe entirely.

  Thank you, Baba!

  The she-bear is caught in my aura, and Sherbert has already begun to heal me. Realizing this calms my nerves a bit. Neither of us are in any danger—I have only to hold up my shield and endure her blows, all while farting periodically and avoiding some of the worst hits.

  [Tremor Aura skill has leveled up.]

  Which one was that now? Oh, right, the aura I got from defeating the minotaur. It’s supposed to slow my enemies down. I suppose I’ll start seeing more of a difference after it’s leveled up a bit.

  At last the she-bear drops dead in my aura. Without turning to check on Sherbie, I pull up my skill list.

  [Tremor Aura level 2: The earth shakes where you walk, causing enemies to lose their footing.

  -6% to opponent’s movement speed

  Duration 3 seconds

  Cooldown 9.8 seconds]

  Neato. I collapse my system screen and turn to my friend. He’s embracing the oblivious looking bear cub with tears streaming from his eyes.

  “We have to protect him, Rev. He’s an orphan now.”

  Who do you think made him an orphan? Never mind…

  “Guess you’ll have to get rid of one of the other animal companions,” I say, trying not to sound too excited about it. Having a bear around to deal damage is going to be a huge help. Though I suppose I’ll have to wait a while for it to grow up…

  “But I don’t want to give up Waffle, or Hannah or Raspberry… We’re already so close.”

  “You met Waffle like five minutes ago.”

  Sherbie ignores me and studies his system screen intently. “What’s this? It says I can keep more animal companions if I build a stable in our guild base.”

  “Guild base?”

  “Yeah. We just have to choose a suitable place and set up a guild base. Then we can pay to build a stable, and I can keep up to twenty companions!”

  I’m intrigued. Less about having a zoo at our guild base and more about having, well, a guild base.

  Why hadn’t I thought of it before? Of course the Whales need a home base. That’s just standard procedure.

  “Let’s set up a base!” Sherbie says eagerly.

  “But where? We’ve got to put some thought into this, pick a well-fortified spot, somewhere we won’t be easily ambushed—”

  “Right here!” he declares. “Sleeping Beauty’s cottage! It’s perfect!”

  I open my mouth to protest, then close it and think again. He has a point. We’re far from the main road, even pretty far from Sherry’s cottage. We got a bit lost doing an obscure low-level quest, and it seems doubtful anyone would wander this far by accident.

  Sherbie’s right. This might be the perfect place. And we didn’t even have to to go looking for it.

  “Alright,” I say, pulling up my bag and selecting the guild teleportation stone I was given when we first formed the Whales.

  [Would you like to make current location your guild’s home base?]

  “Yes.”

  [Action completed. This area, ‘Verdant Covert Cottage,’ is now the home base of ‘The Whales’ guild. This area is sovereign to you, the guild leader, and players outside the guild may not enter without permission from you or another guild officer. However, if another guild wishes to challenge you for ownership of this base, they may launch an assault without your knowledge. Well fortified defenses will protect your base from a takeover, and can be selected in the development options. Would you like to begin developing your home base now?]

  Gulp!

  “Yes.”