Waking up

I come to in the game and i'm lying in a bedroll in the town square on the dirt. My leg immediately aches and i groan in pain.

"Hey there woah, easy, I had no idea you could get knocked out in game like that. You had me worried"

I look over and Jessica is sitting next to me, her arm still in that sling, with a look of concern on her face. "Have you been sitting here for long?" I ask her.

"No, I spoke with Alan, our Archer friend, and logged out for a bit. I think i got back in about half an hour ago, I've sent him off to look for that potion. Oh and he's a player" she responds.

I try to sit up and she immediately pushes me back down.

"You have to rest" she says.

"No, no i'm fine. When you go down it sends you to some sort of weird waiting room. You can log out and everything. Now that i'm back my leg aches though which is annoying."

"Oh" she responds letting out a relieved sigh. "Thank fuck for that, your leg still hurts? one of the townsfolk stitched it up as best they could and bandaged it, what health are you at?"

"I'm at 1/110" I say and we lapse into an awkward silence. "I really appreciate your help, Jessica, i'd add you to my friends list but it's down haha"

"Call me Jess, and yeah I saw haha.." another awkward silence follows.

Looking around I notice for the first time the townsfolk, out of their chains, watching their homes burn. A deep sense of despair hangs in the air as they stare with blank, unbelieving eyes.

"Why aren't they putting out the fires?" I ask.

"Town Mayor says it's too far gone and it's better to let it burn itself out. We're in no danger here" Jess shifts in place, an awkward look on her face. "I uh.. asked the villagers if they could find a shirt for you but nothing has come up yet."

Right, i had no shirt and still had my town brown pants on. What a mess. "You know, I only realised at the end there how weak those things were. I guess I was scared." I said bashfully.

She laughs, clear and sweet "I could tell, I didn't think to mention it, but I don't mind being the brains of our little party" she grins at me. "Oh, there's Alan, I hope he has that damn potion and I hope it fucking works."

I look over and a middle-aged man in basic leather armour and a bow slung over his shoulder is walking toward us with intent. This must be Alan. He's bald and taller than me, easily over 6 ft and muscular.

"I found it, it was right where they said it would be, and i got him a new outfit" he calls out with a surprisingly sincere voice.

"Thanks" I say, struggling to sit up. Jess lends me her good arm to sit up and I use it gratefully.

"You're awake!! With the pain in this game i had no idea what other surprises there would be!" he seems genuinely concerned.

"Apparently there's some sort of unconcious waiting room, so he logged out and waited." Jess says on my behalf. She doesn't seem impressed by Alan at all, I wonder what happened while i was out. "You gonna hand over the potion?"

"Yeah, here." He smiles and drops the clothes next to me, handing the potion to her. It looked like your generic fantasy potion, red in a vial with a cork stopper. She looks at him and raises her injured arm slightly. "You could have opened it you know" she sighs and hands it to me. I struggle to pop it open for a second and immediately drink half. The cut on my leg burns fiercely, and i can feel the wound sealing itself. The stitches unbinding themselves and dropping off. It's a strange feeling to say the least.

I grimace, teeth clenched and hand Jess the other half of the potion. She smiles briefly before glancing at Alan. Taking the potion she downs her half and is also immediately trying to surpress a surge of pain. After a few seconds she removes her sling and starts clenching and unclenching her hand. "Wow, that's pretty crazy. You didn't have to save half for me you know?"

"No, i owe you. I couldn't just finish it. Thankyou" I respond. Checking my health i'm at 110/110. "I'm at full health now anyway so it works out."

"Me too, that stuff is potent. Would have been useful when I broke my leg last year."

"Ahem, I hate to interrupt but we have that quest to finish and you are both okay now right?" interrupts Alan.

"What quest?" I ask.

"The mayor told us where the attacks are coming from, they requested help from some sort of adventurers guild weeks ago but nothing ever came of it. he thought we were adventurer's at first. He says they've moved into a nearby cave." Jess explains.

Quest updated: What in the -blazes-!? Not much of a mystery is it? Goblins in a cave? Could you be more generic? Kill them all and the Mayor has promised a reward.

"Do you mind if I change?" I say to Jess.

"Yeah, sure, Alan and I will wait for you over there and we'll head out. We have a new weapon for you too." She gets up and walks off to wait at the edge of the square. Alan follows her without looking back. I look around to find a place to change but quickly realise no one here is interested in me anyway. They seem more interested in their homes burning down around them. Funny that.

I quickly change into my new clothes. White tunic with brown pants, wonderful. I head over to my new companions. They're talking and Jess is holding an old battered sword, but as I get close Alan stops, looks at me and says "Hey, bud. You ready?" Jess turns to me and hands over the sword "For you, belonged to the mayors fathers or something."

"Yeah, i'm ready, and wow thankyou! the extra reach will be nice." I smile at her.

"I took your dagger, I hope you don't mind" she says.

"yeah, ofcourse, that's fine." Another awkward silence follows, what happened between them? This is going to bother me.

"So.. it's this way" Alan interrupts my train of thought, and he turns and starts walking.

We follow.