I waved to Wendel one last time as Dekka and I headed out. I had the club; this time, I think the wood was slightly different. And the quest basket.

  I had asked Wendel for a bit of cloth to make Dekka a new bow. This time it was made out of the red and white chequered cloth. Not as cute as the pink ribbon, but it would do.

  I swung my club aimlessly as I walked to Scott’s Hill. A rabbit shot out at me as I was lost in thought about how to convince players to help. Dekka charged it, and when it leapt aside to dodge her, it practically ran into my club right as I swung. Dead instantly!

  17XP!

  I looked down at its now still form. What a different experience this was from my first. Seeing its brains leak into the grass was still disgusting, but it no longer turned my stomach. And I kinda wished it still did, as difficult as that would make things.

  Dekka ran ahead as we got close to the village. I called her back anytime she tried to stray into the pasture. This time, I could see a large form grazing at the far end. We wanted nothing to do with that locomotive-like bovine. This was all becoming so familiar. But it was more comforting than boring. Maybe I should spend some more time in Scott’s Hill?

  Clearly, we had been under levelled for that dungeon. My body shook as I remembered the spiders. I wanted to avoid a situation like that at all costs. Maybe I had missed out on levelling up. Not just with the quest of Rivermore. Why was I in a hurry?

  What was that saying? Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Maybe I was ‘wasting’ time by dying. If I went slower but didn’t have to restart, maybe I would be making more progress.

  It was worth a shot. And less dying sounded nice, as much as I liked Wendel.

  Again, the bow seemed to work on the townsfolk. Dekka got odd glances but no hostility. I hope the game never accessorised monsters. That would get inconvenient.

  I showed Wendel’s mom some of Dekka’s tricks, and it made her so happy that I got extra town rep for it. What did the town rep do for me?

  I decided to find out. I went to the well and once again told them their water was the sweetest I had ever tasted. At least not since last time. I stopped by and had a beer with Richard the Small and got his quest. He didn’t have anything extra for me to do when asked, but he did say there was a farmer just on the edge of town having problems with moles.

  So off Dekka and I went to go see if we could help with a mole problem. Rodents rodents everywhere..

  The farm was practically in the town. The little farmhouse sat back a bit from the main road with the fields trailing out behind in a patchwork of fields like a blanket hung on a line.

  When I inquired at the door, a tiny wizened old lady, tanned nut brown from the sun, opened the door. Her smile was missing many teeth, but her genuine pleasure that someone wanted to help her family lit up her face.

  "You head out to the barn, traveller; my Cecil is out there with the cows. You have to stay for dinner later.” The old woman said it like it was a foregone conclusion and closed the door.

  Bemused, I walked to the large, low barn in the centre of some pens. There were ducks, a pig, and even a sheep. I had to pick Dekka up to stop her from sampling the ducks. I wondered if I would have to get used to seeing farm animals with two eyes again.

  I was surprised when I walked into the warm, humid air of the barn, and not just because it didn’t smell of cow farts. (Young me had very specific memories of cow barns) The man who straightened up behind a light brown cow with six big, calm eyes was young. After the woman at the door, I had expected an equally wizened old man.

  “Um, hi.” I said. “I heard your farm had a mole problem. I was wondering if my dog and I here,” I lifted her for emphasis, “might be able to help you.”

  He wiped his hands on his pants and reached out to shake my hand. “I’m Cecil,” He said.

  “Elizabeth.”

  A small child came running in from the open door. “Daddy, Daddy, I fed the chimkens.”

  “And this is Selina,” He said, reaching down and grabbing his daughter before she could run into the forest of cow legs.

  “'Lina, we have a visitor, Elizabeth, who is going to try to help us with our mole problem.”

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  “Ohtay,” the little girl said. But her eyes were on Dekka.

  “This is Dekka, she’s a doggy.”

  The little girl hid her head in her dad’s neck in that way children often do when a new adult talks to them.

  We walked out to a pasture. I put Dekka down; my arm was getting sore. Selina fussed and complained till she was set down too. She ran off after the dog. She tripped, and Dekka circled back and licked the girl’s face, causing peals of laughter. Cecil had been about to get concerned, but his child’s delight in the small, odd animal seemed to calm him.

  And likely the bow.

  He took me over to one side of his field. It was a very sad field of crops. All the plants were dying, but there didn’t seem to be a reason that I could tell. Nothing looked munched on, no disease. They weren’t having a drought, I thought back to the whole night of storms.

  But then he showed me the hole.

  Around the edges of his fields were big tunnels in the ground. Not big enough for a person, but very large if I were to believe this was made by a mole.

  “Mole hole,” He said. “They eat the roots of the plants. And they are a major pain as we can’t get to them. They won’t eat poison, and they don’t come up often enough for us to catch them. “

  I looked more closely at the hole. I looked around and saw more holes dotting the area. “Any idea how many you have down there?” I asked.

  “Don’t know for sure, Miss. I reckon there is at least a score. But it’s mighty hard to tell.”

  “Are they just affecting your land, or are other farmers facing a mole problem?”

  “This farm is bearing the brunt of the infestation, though they are spreading to my neighbour’s lands.”

  “What do they look like, and how big are they?”

  He blinked at me. I wasn’t sure if it was because they were common and I should know, or if no one knew because they were in the ground all the time.

  “They are about yay high, he motioned somewhere mid thigh, have tiny eyes and huge front paws.” Ok, so this was something everyone should know.

  “Do they bite or anything? I am sorry, I have never seen one of your moles.”

  He looked thoughtful. They have pretty long teeth, but I have never heard of anyone being bitten. “Why do you ask?”

  “I have a plan. But we will need a lot of people. Like almost one person per hole.”

  He looked around. I could see his lips moving as he counted. "I can get a bunch of the townsfolk to come tomorrow."

  Perfect. "Tell them to bring clubs, or shovels or something they can bash a mole with."

  I was going to introduce everyone to the game of whack-a-mole.

  That night, I stayed with the nice farm family. Cecil’s wife was a trader. She and a couple of the other villagers would go around buying and selling goods. She had no knack for farming, but I was told she could charm the shine of a coin and sell candles to a blind man.

  Dekka had always liked children. Their hands were often sticky, they dropped food often and were always good for joining in mischief. Selina was no exception.

  “Where do you get these ‘dogs’ Cecil asked after his daughter had gone to bed, complaining she wanted more time with the ‘oggy’. He looked fondly down at mine as she snored slightly on my lap.

  “They are very rare here,” I said honestly. “They come from my homeland. I am not sure if any of the other travellers will have any. Maybe in the future.” Maybe in some update, DLC or something. But right now, I was sure the only dog in this whole game was holding me down, preventing me from going to the outhouse.

  The next day dawned fine and clear. If it had been rainy, I would have had to postpone, not sure if the tunnels would fill up with water. Cecil had gone into town after dinner the night before and told people to show up after morning chores.

  There was an almost festival-like feel in the air. Neighbours had gathered and were chatting in small groups. Children raced around chasing after large hoops and trying to throw sticks through them as it rolled. People passed around mugs of small beer or tea. A few women with babes were setting up some tables. From what I gathered, they were going to serve lunch there after we conquered the mole scourge.

  No pressure.

  I watched as Selina was running around telling all the other kids about the ‘oggy’. Said ‘oggy’ was running around after them. Mainly because a couple of them had crusts of bread in their chubby little hands.

  While I had said the more people the merrier, I did request that no children under the age of about 14 be present in the field. I wasn’t sure how dangerous these moles would be when scared.

  And I intended them to be scared. I was going to loose a home invader on them.

  Everyone had some sort of tool to bash a mole with. Most had shovels; one or two had clubs. A lumberjack-looking fellow had an axe. I grimaced that could be messy. I also meant to have a word with him about being very careful who he was near when he swung and to be very sure it was a mole he was aiming at.

  When it looked like everyone was present who was going to be, I called my dog and let everyone know now was the time to head to the field. I had them all disperse to stand by a hole. A few holes had more than one person. I made sure Mr Axe Wielder was alone.

  Dekka was going to be the star of this show. Jack Russel Terrier love holes. The only thing better than chasing a rodent was chasing a rodent underground in the dark. They are insane little beasts even in the real world.

  I explained how this would work. I told them the dog here was going to go down the hole and chase the moles out of the ground. They were going to hit any mole that came out of the ground. BUT only the mole. No hitting the dog.

  I held her up over my head so they could all see her clearly. I made eye contact with the lumberjack to make sure he knew not to hit my precious companion. Thankfully, her white fur would make her stand out.

  Earlier, when some of them had asked me if it would work, I told them it was a very popular carnival game we have where I come from. They seemed excited I am not sure the NPCs knew what a carnival was, but they believed in me and my odd pet monster.

  I looked around to see if anyone had any last questions. Everyone seemed poised over their holes. I held tight to Dekka’s makeshift collar as she strained to be let go and dive into the dark. I asked them, “Are you ready?” I called out.

  “Ready,” they shouted back and lifted their implements.