The Grove

[Killed Player x4. Experience awarded.]

Mason took his 'captive' down to the beach, fighting the adrenaline and anger from his limbs as Haley put her clothes back on.

"Who are you?" Mason snarled. "And why did you intend to attack us?"

"My name is Kiaan, currently a scout for a nearby settlement, and its patron. Those men were part of a regular raiding pattern in what that settlement considers its territory. They would have killed you and taken the girl."

Mason's eyes narrowed as he inspected the tall, muscled man. He looked not only competent but confident in his own abilities. Why a man like this wouldn't be some kind of warrior class he had no idea, but it wasn't important now.

"You're being awfully forthright, Kiaan. Why tell me anything when you know I can't hurt you?"

The scout shrugged. "My patron is a fool. I have no loyalty to fools."

Mason snorted, actually believing him. That was a sentiment he could certainly understand. Though he didn't trust the man, as a civilian, he didn't really have to. They couldn't hurt each other. That tended to make for a good working relationship. "Can civilians harm other civilians?" he asked suddenly, looking at Haley.

She nodded. "As much as they like. But if a civilian were to hurt me in any way, he would immediately become a viable target to you as my patron."

Mason nodded, trying to picture all the ramifications of that. On the one hand, it protected civilians with patrons. On the other, it left civilians without patrons completely exposed to other civilians. Mason expected if he thought about that longer, he could imagine some dastardly combination of players and civilians abusing the rules in the right situation.

Again he inspected the rather non-descript older man, whose skin and features were just average enough he might have been from almost anywhere before the apocalypse. "Are you bound to this chief?"

"I have a trade contract," he said immediately. "I can break it whenever I wish, with a very small penalty."

Mason crouched down and flicked some blood off his shoes. "I'm looking for someone, Kiaan. He may or may not have been here recently. Tall. Young. Caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes. He'd be cocky. Talk a lot. Name is Blake."

Kiaan frowned, looking genuinely unhappy not to know the answer. "I haven't seen this man. But then, I have not returned to my settlement in several days. The raiders exchange prisoners and move often, and I am assigned to different groups at different times. But it is not impossible he is there."

"Your raiders kill any players they find?"

"They do."

"Any exceptions?"

Kiaan shook his head, and Mason sighed.

"Have you seen two islands visible from the same shore, both with white cliffs?"

The man frowned in concentration, as if searching his memory. "I believe I have."

Mason finally felt a twinge of hope, but tried to keep it from his face. "Can you take me there?"

"You are nearly there now. Just a little further North. There are several islands, many have white rock."

This was a rather classic good news bad news scenario. It meant Blake might very well be close. It also meant insane raiders might have already chased him off, taken him, or killed him. Mason took a breath.

"You're a scout. Can you help me find him?"

Kiaan looked like he approved of the question. "I can. I have powers to increase my traveling speed. Anything I see can be mapped and later recorded. I have considerable knowledge of this new world's flora and fauna. And before the Great Game, I traveled and lived in many places."

"You keep calling it the Great Game."

The scout shrugged. "That is what they call it in the settlement of Nassau."

"And what do you think it is?"

The man's brown eyes squinted again in concentration, as if he truly considered the question. "Life," he said finally. "Life magnified. Life stripped bare."

Mason felt a kind of profound, if simple wisdom in the words, and found he liked this man. "I'm not the leader type, Kiaan. I don't want towns or followers. But my brother is. If you help me find him, I have no doubt he'll offer you whatever you want. He'll end up rich and in charge of some town in this world, you have my guarantee of that."

"I believe you, but I don't wish to serve a soft, rich man," Kiaan said. "I would serve a hunter. A killer. A man like you."

Mason watched the man's eyes carefully, watching and listening for lies, for deception. "Then what do you want?"

Kiaan glanced at Haley, then back. "A house, a woman one day. Protection. And a place of honor at your side."

Mason tried not to think like a modern man. That wasn't the world anymore, and of course what any man really wanted was a house of his own, a wife, and respect. It felt like a ridiculous thing to request in this new world of endless forest and monsters, but obviously 'settlements' existed, whatever exactly that involved. He wasn't sure how he'd provide a woman, and what a future at his side might look like. But he glanced at Haley and she practically slapped him in the face with her eyes as she lifted her hands to say 'do it!' Mason sighed, supposing if he was ever to have followers, he would want them to be men like this.

"I accept. Now how do we…" Haley was instantly at his side, staring into space before ghostly text started scrolling down his vision. There were all kinds of details, but the offer of a house, a woman, and a position were all in clear bold.

"You will earn an additional ten per cent retainer reward because of my class signing bonus," Haley said to the scout and smiled. "In both experience, and civilian currency."

The man grinned like that made some kind of sense, which of course it didn't to Mason in the slightest.

"What's civilian currency?"

Haley gave him a very classic, very feminine 'don't worry about it, sweetheart,' smile. Then the ghostly text went green and vanished, and Mason saw he had a new contract on his profile.

"Tell me how to find your settlement," he said. Kiaan nodded and explained the general direction, which was back into the woods but much further north. He described several landmarks, including a river that ran West past this 'Nassau' from a nearby mountain.

"I want you to go North," Mason told the scout. "There's a chance Blake is still out there somewhere. Find the landmarks I mentioned, then keep North as fast as you can. Look for tracks, people, anything. Just follow the coast at top speed. Haley give him some food and water." She took it from her storage, and the older man's eyes betrayed a brief moment of surprise.

"Can you track us down in the woods later?" he asked. The scout nodded, then quirked a brow.

"What are you intending?"

Mason ignored this, not truly trusting the man, or anyone.

"I'm going to rest here awhile. But I likely won't be staying long. If you haven't found anything useful after four days, go to your former settlement and wait for me."

Kiaan nodded and stood. "Then I will go now, patron. See you soon."

"See you soon, Kiaan. Stay safe."

The man smiled slightly, then turned and ran down the beach nearly as fast as Mason himself.

* * *

"You don't trust him," Haley said as soon as the scout was out of earshot. She looked at Mason's wounds for a few moments, then shivered at the look of the burnt flesh and left him alone. "He does have a contract with you."

"He had one with Chief Sebastian, too."

She sighed at that but nodded, then Mason turned for the trees.

"Do we have to?" Haley sighed. "I really like the coast. We could actually go skinny dipping. Make love on the sand."

"Rain check." He grinned. "Ready for another bumpy ride?"

"Stop teasing me." She smiled as she climbed onto his back. Mason followed Kiaan's directions. This mountain was supposed to be close. And sure enough, after maybe an hour of Mason-speed travel, he saw the outline of a giant rise cresting above the forest canopy. He turned slightly and went straight for it, because in theory all he needed to do was follow the river flowing from it straight to this Nassau. With maybe another hour or two of traveling, right around the point Haley would need a break before her legs went numb, Mason found some kind of clearing.

He stopped and let Haley down, wary now of anything different in this world—especially any kind of break in the trees. Haley had the good sense not to speak, just summoning Mason's bow and handing it to him silently. He inspected the mostly open ground but saw very little to concern him. A few fallen trees, grass and moss and a host of different shrubs. Out of curiosity more than anything he finally stepped into the clearing, and like some magic spell had been cast, a giant tree seemed to grow from the earth, emerging as if from nothing from the center of the clearing. It grew and grew, reaching above the forest canopy and beyond sight. Mason gaped in surprise, then turned to Haley. "Are you seeing this?"

Incredibly, though he was holding her hand, he could hardly see her. Along with the tree, a thick mist sprung up all around them. He saw Haley's mouth move in alarm, her eyes moving back and forth, as if she too had lost sight of Mason. He looked down and realized he was no longer holding her hand. When he looked back, she was gone.

"Haley!" he yelled, growing rather concerned now as he tried and failed to penetrate the mist. He growled and aimed straight towards the tree, moving quickly despite not being able to see much around him.

"He sees us sister," whispered a feminine voice on the wind. "How does he see us?"

"He is not like the others," answered a colder voice. "We must be wary of this one. I will watch him before I kill."

Mason summoned his Claw and gripped the handle tight in his hand as he advanced. He could still see a faint outline on the tree, and stepped towards it.

"Must violence be your only answer?" whispered the first voice. "Perhaps we can speak with him. We are so alone. So hopeless. So…"

"I can hear you," Mason shouted into the mist. "And I can understand what you say."

The voices silenced entirely, and Mason hoped he hadn't ruined a chance to gain more information. But he was concerned for Haley and very short on patience. Whatever these creatures were, they were going to stop this magic or face him. He stepped to the tree and realized it looked almost exactly the same as the gnoll tree from his tutorial. He blinked, and saw the faint, glowing outline of a door on the bark. He reached out his hand and touched it.

[Entrance to the Great Mountain Tree dungeon. Recommended group of at least 4. Would you like to proceed?]

Mason pulled back his hand and heard an audible gasp.

"He can enter, sister. Oh please, we must invite him to speak with us first!"

"No," hissed the other. "He cannot be trusted. Let him go inside and die."

"Yeah. Can still hear you." Mason said wryly, looking around for any sign of the two women hiding somewhere nearby.

"How unexpected," said the nicer voice. "Stranger, we are nymphs of the Great Trees. Touch the bark again. I will bring you to us."

The other voice scoffed, and Mason hesitated.

"Why should I?" he answered. "I don't know you, or trust you. Why shouldn't I just turn and leave you to…whatever this is?"

"Because we see now you are a son of the woods, ranger. And something more. We owe you knowledge, as you owe us your attention, and your protection. We are daughters of the earth. You are one of its shepherds."

Mason had no idea what to make of that, save for some reason it didn't sound entirely crazy. He felt almost compelled to again touch the tree, and his hand brushed the rough bark before he'd considered it fully.

"Be it on your head, sister," whispered the colder voice.

[Secret Dungeon access granted. Entrance to Nymph Lair. Would you like to proceed?]

Mason touched the symbol he could see would take him to the secret dungeon. Though his heart had quickened, and he thought himself vaguely mad, he accepted, and disappeared.