I could smell Rivermore even before I entered the gates. This was the first real town I had come across. It had a stone and timber wall, and all the homes and businesses were nestled within.

  A crude skull painted in white on weathered wood of the shut gates looked down at me as I approached. That looked serious. The stench was worse. Smoke hung in heavy layers in the air and a sickly barbecue smell that was wholly unappetising wafted on the wind. There was also the foul underlying smell of rot.

  I went right up to the gate. No one stood guard. The big skull was a large deterrent for most folks. I knocked politely and waited. Dekka standing beside me her little tail wagging in expectation of the door opening. Dogs didn’t fear skulls

  No one answered so I pushed on the doors, and they slowly opened revealing a town seeped in sickness and despair. The street was eerily quiet, There were no people bustling about doing business, no children playing, no livestock save a lone rooster scratching and pecking in the dirt.

  Dekka took off after it a blur of tan and white against the dusty road. The rooster squawked in surprise and flew awkwardly up to sit on the side of an empty cart. Dekka trotted back pleased with herself. Flies buzzed in the air as if drawn by the smell of rot, and the promise of a feast.

  I slowly walked into the town. All the businesses had their doors closed, it was a fine day so they weren't closed to keep the weather out. I saw no one through the windows, just my reflection rippling in the uneven glass as we passed.

  Catching movement in my peripheral vision I tured to see a figure leave a house and go down a side street. Ok so not everyone was dead or bedridden, but this seemed dire. No wonder Molly had been worried about her daughter.

  It didn’t take long to find the doctor’s practice. It was the only sign of life I I had seen so far in the entire city. Bundled figures were waiting patiently in a line starting at the door to the infirmary.

  I revised that as I got closer. These people looked more hopeless than patient. They didn’t argue when I went in without queuing.

  Dr Finney was a small harried elderly man with deep shadows on his face and a few days beard growth that highlighted how little time he had had to rest or for self care. He was talking to a woman who was trying to support a man at her side.

  “I know Mrs Hannen, but I don’t have any more burdock flower to make the tincture. Take this.” He handed her a pouch from a small stack he had on the counter beside him. “Brew it into a strong tea and give it to him every four hours.”

  “Will that cure my Stan?” Mrs Hannen asked her voice weak and wavering.

  Dr Finney looked over at the man leaning on his wife and shook his head. “No. But it will make him more comfortable.”

  He shared a look with the woman. The kind that was full of sorrow and said keeping him comfortable was all they could do now. The woman and her husband slowly shuffled out.

  I stepped up to the counter, Dekka held under one arm. The doctor’s eyes widened a bit at the dog, but greeted me with a professional “What can I do for you traveller?”

  “It is I who hope I can do something for you.” I replied. Great now I was sounding like an NPC. “Molly over in Road’s Cross told me to come find you. She’s worried about her daughter.”

  A small flicker of hope brought a bit of life to his face and his back straightened. “You will help our town?”

  “Yes, that’s why I came.”

  YOU HAVE COMPLETED MOLLY’S QUEST- Find the doctor.

  +5xp

  You have received one cowslip root.

  This game was really miserly with its xp rations, it would take me forever to level at this rate.

  “What I desperately need is herbs and ingredients to make treatments for the townsfolk. I was developing a cure when I ran out of ingredients. I can’t leave and go forage, my assistant died of the illness and I can’t leave the people on their own.”

  I looked around. Maybe I should have worried more about contagion. I quickly checked my stats for a debuff. None so far. I nodded at him.

  “What I need are 10 burdock flowers, 6 greater rabbit ears and one sparrow heart. Do you accept this task?”

  “Sure”

  YOU HAVE ACCEPTED THE DOCTOR’S QUEST - Save the town of Rivermore. Find the ingredients before it is too late.

  I waited for more information. Too late? Was this a timed quest? I didn’t see a clock anywhere. I checked my screens. No timer ticking the minutes away till I failed. Maybe the quest’s wording was just to add a sense of urgency? I had played games where it seemed like I had to do something quickly but the NPCs were frozen till I came back. Even if it was days later in game.

  “Dr, I have some cowslip root. Is there anything you can do with that?”

  “No, that is a crafting material. You might have sold it to the glassmaker, it is a common ingredient used in that class. But he died. That was Molly’s son in law.” He shook his head sadly. “You can try and see if she wants it. I am unsure if she is going to try to keep the family business. Her house is next door.”

  On the off chance she did want it, I could use more coin. I was never into crafting in games. My boyfriend had a friend who often played with us. That was his role in the group. We would just dump all the stuff on him and he’d occasionally hand us back some really good gear. He on the other hand didn’t enjoy questing and gathering. We had made an ideal team. What I wouldn’t give to have a party.

  I knocked on the door and heard a quiet “Come in.”

  The home reminded me a lot of Wendel’s cottage. I wondered if all the cottage homes were going to be of a similar blueprint. Lazy game building. They could have skimped on some of the fight scene realism and put in into local architecture.

  This home was darker; the room was smoky, and the curtains were drawn. A woman rocked a small bundle by the fire.

  “Bess?”

  “Yes, do I know you?” the woman asked, then coughed, it was a ragged hacking sound.

  I decided to not come any closer. “My name is Elizabeth. Your mom sent me to see if I could help the town.”

  “Oh, that is good of her. Tell me is she doing well?”

  “She seemed good, healthy. Mostly worried about you. She said you were pregnant?” I looked at the small bundle.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I could see in the shadows Bess look down with real affection. “I was— now I have this lovely little girl. A last reminder of my beloved Kel.” She sniffed. I wasn’t sure if it was grief or illness.

  “What’s her name?”

  “I haven’t decided. Kel and I were arguing about it. Good-naturedly” she added hurriedly, as if worried I would think less of their marriage.

  “If it was a girl, he wanted to call her Sarah after his grandmother. I wanted to call her Rose. I have always dreamed of having a daughter called Rose.” Bess broke into another a coughing fit and couldn’t continue.

  I was getting concerned the baby was to quiet when it stirred and cried weakly, woken by her mother’s spasms.

  “I will go see to finding the ingredients,” I said. Not even bringing up the cowslip flower.

  It was a relief to leave the village. I breathed deep of the clean air, I sniffed my shirt, gross. It had taken on some of the smell of the smoke and rot. I was going to need to wash my clothes. But not until after I finished this quest.

  I pulled up the quest notification in my HUD. There were pictures of all the ingredients but not where to find them. The rabbit ears were going to be easy. So far I had gotten one per fight. The burdock flower image was of a broad leafed plant with a stalk of blue flowers. That shouldn’t be too hard to find. But the sparrow heart literally was just a picture of a small anatomical heart.

  The quests so far had been straightforward, so hopefully the sparrow would be obvious and attack us.

  Just to the east of town there was a large arched stone bridge. I stopped half way to look down at the water. The river was wide with grassy banks and there were eddies that rippled and flowed, tagging each other as the water flowed down stream in an otherwise deceptively smooth surface. I knew that that meant. This river had some powerful currents. I had better keep Dekka from going for a swim.

  There was a path that lead north following the river, looking down it I saw meadows dotted with trees. The main road which continued east was hilly and rocky. I decided the tall meadows looked nice and headed north.

  We quickly bagged two rabbits. One gave us two ears. So that was now 3 ears. I also received more beast haunches. I was going to have to figure out how to cook those.

  Dekka had only turned into her hellhound version for one fight. I had killed the one too fast for her, she had just watched me and barked, in encouragement or annoyance at not having time to join in, I wasn’t sure. The second one she jumped in not giving me much of a chance to attack it. I wondered if she could transform at will, or if it was automatic as she ran in to attack.

  The path narrowed where the river erroded away the bank, reeds whispering in the wind at the river edge. The grass in this meadow was all even and short.

  That should have been my first warning. I was still thinking about burdock and sparrow hearts and not questioning why I was walking through what looked like a well maintained lawn, when the bushes exploded.

  Two hell-bunnies barrelled out, red eyes blazing. Twice the teeth, twice the danger, conversely twice the XP.

  Two? I snapped my head around, checking to see where Dekka was and raising the club. I didn’t see her but I was sure the fracas would bring her running.

  These rabbits looked different. Their coats weren’t cream and white they were a sort of tabby marked dark brown on tan with white underbellies. I assessed them as I shifted my grip. They were also bigger!

  The first rabbit went low, claws digging for my ankles. The second launched straight for my throat. Their timing was good, better than I was expecting, more like pack hunters. Actually that made a bit of sense, rabbits lived in groups in a warren. If they were omnivorous like these ones I guess they could be pack hunters. These two were trying to tag-team me.

  I twisted sideways, barely getting the club up in time. I managed to swing it aiming to use CRIPPLING BLOW right away. It cracked against the chest of the leaping rabbit with a meaty whump. Not enough to kill it unfortunately, but enough to break some ribs. It hit the ground squealing in pain. This seemed to enrage it’s companion who hissed at me.

  “DEKKA!” I yelled. I had a pack mate too.

  I didn’t have time to see my dog was coming to help. The uninjured rabbit came at me, darting in low. I jumped aside but not fast enough, hot pain singing up my shin. My vision fuzzed, HUD flashing:

  –6 HP. Bleeding (Minor).

  I staggered back, raising the club again, anger swelling inside me.

  But Dekka was already moving. She bolted past my legs, barking so furiously her whole body shook. She launched herself at the ankle-biter with zero hesitation.

  And then—there it was. I grinned. Her scruffy outline blurred, stretched, swelled into shadow. In a heartbeat, my dog was wearing her hellhound skin again, all glowing eyes, and smooth translucent power.

  The rabbit faltered. This was not what it had expected when they had seen the small shape running at them.

  Dekka didn’t give it time to recover. She smashed into the rabbit at my shin, sending it tumbling with a yelp. Her jaws—no, the hellhound’s jaws—clamped down and crunched, and the squeal cut off in an ugly whimper.

  2XP!

  The other rabbit had gotten to its feet as I was watching my dog. Blood trickled from it’s mouth but it seems they weren’t programed to retreat. It was clearly damaged from my skill but it launched at me, claws flashing. Sharp claws? That was new.

  I stepped back and took aim and met it mid-air with a skill-boosted HIT. The club connected with the side of its skull in a wet, splintering crack. Blood fanned across the path in a spray of red-black dots. The thing flopped sideways, twitching. Thankfully it died with minimal screaming.

  20XP! CONGRATULATIONS FIGHTER YOU HAVE LEVELLED UP! +2 to strength, +1 to constitution. +2 to speed You have one skill point to allocate. Would you like to allocate you skill point now? Yes/No

  You have received: 2 Beast Haunches, 3 Greater Rabbit Ears.

  Yes!

  Through the overlay of the HUD I watched as Dekka grabbed the rabbit with a single brutal lunge, shadow-teeth tearing through its throat. She shook the corpse like it was a rag toy a few times and dropping it, she padded back to me with her tail wagging inside that monstrous silhouette. The hellhound silhouette faded away, and there she was again—small, scruffy, tongue lolling, proud as could be.

  Oh yay, I was now a level three fighter. Wait, how was I both excited and cynical? This was a deeply disturbing bit of cognitive dissonance so I just focused on spending the skill point. I had HIT and CRIPPLING BLOW, so still avoiding the Unarmed category and the odd amour one I could choose TARGETED HIT, to finish out the visible parts of the ‘hit’ category or unlock the ‘swing’ or ‘block’. I chose SWING. After it I could see MIGHTY SWING and TRIP.

  I closed the screens, My leg stung where a fang had opened it, and blood trickled warm into my boot. Dekka trotted in circles around me, yapping happily.

  “Good girl,” I whispered, scratching real ears. My hands shook with after fight jitters. “Best girl. Also terrifying, but best girl.”

  The corpses steamed in the cool air, already attracting flies. I turned my back on them, and limping slightly I followed Dekka as she bounded ahead, tail a little white flag against the settling gloom.

  With night falling I decided to make camp. I still didn’t have a replacement tent but it was a clear night. The temperature was dropping decided to try making a fire. We could try cooking a beast haunch. Even if it wasn’t good Dekka would probably like some, she had never been picky.

  I had started a campfire once or twice in my life. This was not the same, I didn’t have a lighter or matches there was no old newspapers or cardboard around. I had a flint and steel in my pack, a bit of what looked like cotton fluff. That was it.

  I stared at the tree. It had paperlike bark. Would I hurt it by peeling it off? Like a real life birch tree. I mean I know this isn’t a real tree its just code. But I didn’t want some sort of curse of the forest for harming trees or something. I came down on the side of risking it.

  With my arms full of twigs, bark and a few larger branches, we headed back to the clearing. Dekka trotting along with a big stick, not for the fire, but for a contemplative post prandial chew.

  There was a bunny sniffing my pack. One of the dark tabby ones. We stopped and watched it. My club was leaning up beside it. Shit.

  Dekka dropped her stick and watched it intently, her tail going still. Then she took off at the rabbit.

  Double shit. I dropped the armload of twigs.

  I put my pack down in a clearing and went out to look for dry twigs for kindling and any dry branches. Then I bent down and picked up the biggest branch and ran after my dog. If she killed the bunny I didn’t get the loot drop. My injured leg slowed me too much. Dekka handily killed the single rabbit.

  2XP!

  No loot for me, but I should try to remember to keep my club on me. I should try to see about finding a way to fasten it to my belt.

  That night fire crackled as it ate along the logs. Dekka was asleep on my lap, her belly rounded out after eating her fill of roasted haunch. Turns out the rabbits were as delicious as they were creepy. The food seemed to boost healing and the cut on my leg looked as if it had been healing for a couple of days. Food did more than fill the belly it seemed.

  Glow bugs zipped overhead and flickered in the long grass around our camp, night birds called softly into the night. My campfire kept the beasts away and now with company, the night didn’t seem so unfriendly. This was more akin to camping than a dreadful game.

  But how long could it say this pleasant?