A Plan Is Forged

The path to the camp was fortunately quite short, deep enough into the forest as to not draw attention but close enough to the main path that returning to it would provide no issue. The area was concealed by a cluster of dense trees interwoven with significant overgrowth. Passing through the overgrowth, Ember and Moze found themselves in Moze’s humble little encampment. A crude shelter of rocks and branches had been erected around a small tree in the center of the tiny clearing, right beside a narrow brook that snaked through the foliage. In the center of this clearing was a sitting log beside a small campfire.

“Welcome to my little slice of heaven. Sorry if it aint much to look at right now, it’s in the middle of some renovations. Please, pull up a log and I’ll prepare us a cup of summer moss tea made with the freshest brook water.” Moze said with a chuckle.

Ember looked around at the cozy little campsite before plopping his rear down upon the log in the center of camp.

“Ya know, I was about to rag on it, but I’m actually impressed you got all of this set up in one night.” Ember commented.

“Heh, I am too, if we’re being honest. I was an Eagle in the Boy Scouts when I was a kid. If I could have, I’d have built a mansion out here out of twigs and mud but, ya know, kind of ironic, but something I quickly figured out about this place. It doesn’t really matter what my skills were before I found myself trapped in here. If this world says I’m terrible at something, then I am.” Moze explained as he retrieved a couple of tin cups and filled them with water from a waterskin.

He then proceeded to inspect his bag before two handfuls of bright yellow moss appeared in his hand. He then proceeded to stuff them into the cups as well before placing them right onto the side of the fire.

“Whaddya mean it decides if you suck at something?” Ember asked.

“Skills. Ironic given what I said earlier, right? If you work at a skill here it can feel like you’re learning it in fast forward? Unfortunately, all those skills start at zero, including the ones we already had before we wound up here… at least, that’s how it was for me. Fortunately, I have been able to use some of my prior knowledge to speed things along, but when I decided I’d start building here, it felt as though I had never so much as even stacked a pile of sticks in my life. Fortunately, my real world skills weren’t all in vain, but it’s frustrating to lose something you used to take for granted… like your name for example.” Moze explained, suddenly looking rather sullen.

“Yea, I get whatcha mean.” Ember replied.

“Haha, yea, I bet. Did you notice yourself losing any skills when you ended up on this side?? Moze asked.

Ember froze up, he thought for a moment as his face went even more red than normal. Worried Moze would catch his expression, as the answer to that was certainly no, he turned his head away.

“N-no, nothing like that happened to me.” Ember replied.

“Heh, no kidding. Maybe it was just me then. Either way, figured I'd let you know that. If you wanna get anywhere in this world, I guess we’re gonna have to work from the ground up.” Moze mused.

“Yea, I guess so. Still, for one day here, you seem to have adapted pretty quickly.” Ember commented.

Moze leaned down and began to attempt to light a flame with his tinderbox. “Yea, I guess I did… honestly, I didn’t know what else to do. I was in the armory in town, browsing for a set of armor to work towards when this whole thing started. I was just inspecting the displays when… I duno, I just kind of froze up all of a sudden. I felt dizzy, nauseous, and then suddenly I collapsed. Gradually, I started being able to move again, and by the time my brain finally settled down. After that, I found that I was no longer physically in my room. Instead, I was in the body of my character. After discovering that, well you can probably imagine how that went. While I was struggling to wrap my head around what was happening, I had droves of fans all talking, shouting at me at once talking about how my stream cut out, asking if I was okay, that sort of stuff. It was… Yea, it was way too much, so I panicked, and I ran. I hauled it out of that town as fast as I could, but of course, my fans were hot on my heels. I was fortunate when a sudden rush of mobs came storming after us when we got out of town, and I was eventually able to lose them… That unfortunately is where I met the guy in the mask.”

Ember looked on, listening intently to the tale Moze was sharing.

“Damn, that’s rough. At least you gave yourself a Human body to become. Had I known this was going to happen ahead of time, I sure as heck wouldn’t have gone with this” Ember complained as he held out his stumpy arms, showing off his Imp body.

Moze chuckled. “I see! And if you would have known, you’d have still played the game?”

Ember stared silently at Moze for a moment. “Y-yea, good point… But, about that masked guy…” Ember started.

“Oh, you’re familiar with them too? I saw him twice. The first time was near the docks, a little bit after the tutorial. I was talking to my stream chat and I noticed him at another dock across from where I stood. He just stood there, staring across the water at me before he disappeared into a crowd of players. I didn’t think much of it at the time aside from it being a little weird, though I had just assumed him a fan or something. Then after I was pulled in here, I encountered him again in the fields north of town. He talked about the mark and about being Chosen and whatnot. He also mentioned that there were others here who also had that mark, and were Chosen like myself. After that, he wasn’t keen on sharing any more information. Instead, he said he wanted me to complete the mayor’s quest if I wanted to know more, and then he just wandered off, disappeared behind some trees or something because he was no longer there when I chased after him.” Moze explained.

“Huh, really? Pff, lucky you. He was a little freak who appeared in my room both times. First time was on the boat, then at the inn I went to after I got tired from running around town. I basically only got the same information you did, and I was also told he’d tell me more if I defeated the boss at the fort.” Ember explained.

“I see. Then if you ask me it sounds like we’re in the exact same boat. In which case, whaddya say about teaming up?” Moze suggested.

Ember looked to the man, a bit taken off guard by the fact that Moze was the one to broach the notion first.

“Yea sure. I was thinking the same thing actually. You got a plan or somethin? Ember asked.

Moze nodded. “I do. Well, calling it a plan is a little generous I guess, but it is something. I’m planning to do just as the masked man wanted. I’m getting to that fort and taking out its boss as soon as possible.” Moze proposed.

“What, just like that? You think we could just charge in and be done with it?” Ember asked.

“Sure. I mean, there’s a little more to it than that, but that’s the gist of it. In a way, this area is still a bit of a tutorial zone. It’s designed to get players started. The quest to clear out Fort Constance has no prerequisites, so if players know what they’re doing, they can move on to the greater world beyond as soon as the keep is taken care of. That also means there should be nothing stopping us from doing the same.” Moze elaborated.

“Hmm, Yea, makes sense to me. Still, sounds like you’ve been thinking about this for a bit. You weren’t planning on doing this by yourself were ya?” Ember inquired.

“If I have to, yea. I’ve been planning to use my time out here to grind levels to make sure I can actually handle it if it comes to that. That’s what I was doing before I ran into you and that bear actually. I’ll form a party if possible but, honestly, I still don’t know how to approach it if someone recognizes me. Still, if you’re willing to join, I’ll definitely welcome the help of someone in the same boat as me.” Moze explained.

Ember nodded. “I gotcha. Well, since our destination’s the same, count me in.”

Just as Ember finished speaking, he heard a familiar chime from his codex. It was the telltale indicator that he had received some sort of important update within it. Quickly drawing it out, Ember looked it over, finding that he had just received a party invitation, not from Moze, but from Thordon.

“Oh hey, just got a party invite from a friend! Good to see that still works.” Ember said happily, immediately accepting the invite.

“Oh? Do they know about what happened to you?” Moze asked.

“Nope! But I’m gonna let em’ know! Guys! Thordon, Clarissa, you there!?” Ember shouted at the codex.

There was no response, and quite frankly, Ember had no idea where he should be shouting, or even he could actually contact them if they weren’t nearby. He scrambled to see if he had any means of sending them a message, but could find nothing.

“Everything good there, partner?” Moze asked, a bit concerned as the imp had suddenly began shouting and flailing about.

“O-oh, yea, umm… I think so. I was looking for a way to send messages to my friends but I can’t find the option for it.” Ember explained, sifting through tabs in an effort to find something.

“I see. Honestly, it seems to me that we might not actually have access to any sort of long ranged communication like that anymore. I’ve tried to look at the global chat a few times now and I haven’t been able to find anything.” Moze explained.

“Damn. Come to think of it, I couldn’t seem to bring it up either when I was looking for you. Damnit, this is a pain.” Ember growled.

The duo was silent for a moment until Moze’s eyebrows raised. “Hey, you were still able to join a party with them, right? Can you see their location under their name?”

Ember’s ears twitched at the idea and he quickly looked to his party list. The current party consisted of Ember, Thordon, and Clarissa. The both of them were currently in the Southern Meadow, but Ember watched as the location changed before his eyes, now claiming that they were in Santa Rio.

“Ah, good thinking! They’re in Santa Rio now. If I hurry, I might be able to catch them!” Ember declared excitedly.

“Sounds good. I’ll uhh, stay here for now. Before you go though.” Moze said before focusing on Ember.

Moments later, Ember heard another alert from his codex. Turning to his friends tab, he could see a friend request from Moze.

“Ah, seems like we can still create connections at least. Alright then, I’ll be here when you’re done if you want to discuss our next steps.” Said Moze with a nod.