“It was the most wondrous dream,” Encore sat perched at the edge of the cart’s bench, three tails wrapped around his legs. “Snow as far as I could see, a perfect blanket of white. Dappled with delicious little snacks hopping about.”

  “Icecream bunnies,” I replied, walking along the cart. “Right?”

  “Yes!” He jumped up, did a little hop and spun in a tight circle with barely restrained excitement before sitting back down. “Ice cream bunnies! The most delectable, sweet treat. They had the perfect crunch ratio.”

  “Crunch ratio?” Katarina asked, jogging backwards just ahead. “What is crunch ratio?”

  “You don’t know about crunch ratio?” Encore cocked his head to the side in disbelief. “It is an important characteristic when determining the quality of food.

  “So I was flying high above the snow fields, looking over the multitudes of bite-sized morsels hopping about, when I saw it. The target of my hunt. Ten times the size of the other ice cream bunnies, hopping in the distance.”

  “No way,” I looked over at Encore, “you found one? A Dire Icecream Bunny?”

  “It was everything I had hoped,'“ Encore nodded sagely. “Strawberry, Chocolate, and Vanilla. The tri-fecta. Not only was it Dire, it was a Dire Neopolitan Icecream Bunny.”

  He began drooling a little. I laughed.

  “Have you ever even had ice cream? I didn’t see any ice cream shops in Verdantbrook. And I kept my eyes out, I love ice cream.” Abernathy’s stomach rumbled in response to his words.

  “Of course I know of ice cream! It is a common offering left out for the Kitsiho in my homeland.”

  “Where is that?” Katarina asked.

  “The Frostwind Glen, far to the north, in the lands of perpetual snow.”

  “That tracks,” Abernathy replied. “Would love to go there some day and get some ice cream.”

  Encore made a low, sad sound in the back of his throat, a gentle whine. “That would be a challenge as the beasts that dwell in the waters surrounding the region are very territorial. It is cut off from the main land and other regions for this reason.”

  “Then how did you end up here?” I reached up and scratched behind one of his ears, finding his favorite spot with nimble wood-elven fingers. His tails thumped against the bench with pleasure.

  “It was just after I matured beyond a kit and left the burrow. The telling of it is long and I wouldn't wish to sully the memories of the ice cream bunnies with its retelling. In short; I flew.”

  We were two days west of Verdantbrook, traveling along the western road. It had began sloping upwards gradually over the last half day as we approached the mountains that loomed in the distance.

  Abernathy had been able to store several different crafting tables in his inventory. We had gathered a horde of basic supplies before leaving the ruined city two days before, both from the Adventure Guild supply cache and nearby stores. Dozens of basic healing potions, bandages, cooking supplies, and a plethora of ingredients for Abernathy’s crafting.

  The spreading fires had forced us out of the city a few hours after dawn the day after the night of red mist. I changed my form to that of a Wood Elf for the bonus to my Dexterity before we left the city, and decided it would be the form I would maintain around NPCs for that bonus. I also wanted to avoid the loathing that seemed prevalent for humans, though I didn’t know if that would spread beyond Verdantbrook. Katarina was stuck as a human, much to her chagrin, but both she and Abe approved of my new primary racial selection.

  We passed through a small trading outpost a day’s travel west and purchased the cart and two mules, which Abernathy had named Capernicus and Galileo — Cap and Gal for short. The cart and mules cost us ten gold. We bartered with the friendly elderly merchant, exchanging some of the armor and weapons we had looted from the city.

  I was going to tell the merchant about the tragedy that had befallen Verdantbrook, but Katarina stopped me with a cautious shake of the head, later confiding that she didn’t want us to be associated with the events, lest the blame somehow be placed at our feet. I didn’t agree, but Abernathy did so I went along with the majority.

  The old merchant had loved to talk and provided us with a lot of information about the road ahead. The western passage, named the Vidicus Pass, had been built centuries ago. It was the culmination of a combined effort between gnomes and elves to open trade routes through the Levaddi Mountains. Construction of the Pass had infuriated the dwarves, who had been on the verge of brokering an agreement to construct a series of tunnels for the same purpose.

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  The Pass had been manned by a garrison for many years, until war erupted to the southwest and the troops were withdrawn. This had been two decades ago, and the wilds had begun reclaiming the Pass. Travel was strongly discouraged without a contingent of at least five Bronze Ranked Adventurers, or two Silver.

  Although we were technically only a group consisting of three iron ranked adventurers, after what we had experienced over the last few days I was confident in our skills against what we may face. We didn’t have much choice in the matter either way.

  The Vidicus Pass would open on the other side of the mountains, into a vast expanse of desert the old man had dubbed the Wastelands, named such for the harsh terrain. Another mountain range rose beyond the Wastelands, and nestled within that mountain range lay our destination, the dwarven stronghold city of Bornholdt Keep.

  Abernathy’s estimation of five days had been optimistic. The merchant told us it was often more than a week’s travel, largely due to the twisting, dangerous nature of the Vidicus Pass through the Levaddi Mountains.

  We had camped out in the kindly old man’s barn and headed out early the next morning, before the first lights of dawn crested the horizon to our backs. The day had been an uneventful march up progressively steeper hillsides.

  I practiced playing Cahl’s Tatsu, sprinkling in Radiant Winds when it grew tiring, and releasing small amounts of mana to increase the strength. I found that putting mana into the Tatsu increased its radius, but the drain was applied each time it was performed, which depleted my mana at a steady rate.

  My Stringed Instrument Mastery skill rose to 7/100 over the course of the day, and Explosive Resonance leveled up to 20/50. Mastery experience was much slower to level up, but I was still satisfied with the progress.

  I eyed the quest that had generated after the disaster in Verdantbrook.

  Travel to Bornholdt Keep and meet up with your mentor. Try to outrun the news of Verdantbrook’s destruction, if you can. Otherwise, you may face some… uncomfortable questioning. The eyes of several nations will soon be turning this way. Aid Cahl before disaster strikes again. Will you be quick enough, this time?

  Reward: Silver Survivor’s Chest. Gold Coin x15.

  The sun was starting to sink below the high mountains in the distance, and I was starting to worry that we wouldn’t make it to way station the merchant had described, when I received a message.

  Katarina: Keep the Tetsu going, there are people up ahead, at the rest spot.

  Abernathy: Do they look dangerous?

  Katarina: Yeah, three of them do. The fourth is a merchant, I think. Big fella.

  Abernathy: Do you think its safe?

  Katarina: I dunno. I guess? They are all humans, a rough bunch.

  I walked alongside the donkeys performing the Tetsu. Encore stood atop my shoulders, supporting the song with Harmonic Concordance, providing a complementary undertone of reverberation to the song. He had been backing up every song I played and we had leveled the skill up to 25/50. With his skill added to mine, the radius of the Tatsu was wide enough to encompass the whole cart.

  A pile of rubble that had once been the fireplace of a homestead long, long ago formed a small half-wall along the eastern perimeter of the campsite. A wide, flat expanse about forty feet wide separated the half wall from the only other structure at the site, half of a stone tower had collapsed in on itself. Plants had begun reclaiming both the wall and the broken tower.

  A firepit burned with a moderate flame at the center of the clearing. The clearing was atop a rise that sank slightly before continuing higher up the pass, making it the highest point of elevation in the surrounding area with a good line of sight for the surroundings.

  Katarina was crouching behind the half wall and joined us as we approached, entering the bubble of silent invisibility granted by the song. Abernathy had upgraded her leg, both in material and construction. It was virtually silent and more durable several times over than the previous two iterations had been, though the basic design of a metal rod affixed to a curved, flat piece of metal with a series of springs, remained the same.

  Katarina: Change of plans. We should keep going.

  I wanted to reply, but experience had taught me not to deviate from the song, which was difficult beyond reason. Thankfully, Abernathy asked the same thing I had been wondering.

  Abernathy: What changed? What happened?

  Katarina: Keep going. Chanter, focus on the song. Do not mess up.

  I promptly missed several notes, but managed to pull through and keep the song together.

  Abernathy: You probably shouldn’t tell Chanter to… nevermind. What is this about?

  Katarina: Did you make another of those bombs you made Chanter before? The pipebomb?

  Abernathy: Yes, I was able to get the web satchel to work with it, though I ended up going through all of the satchels to get it to work. Why? What happened?

  Katarina: Lets get past this hill and I will explain in chat. Past where the donkeys will give away our presence. If something happens, give Chanter that bomb.

  We were passing the camp along the road. Two armored men sat around the fire, over which a thick chunk of meat was roasting. They both wore mismatched plate armor and had longswords resting at their sides. A very large man in silks and a floppy blue hat sat in a travelling chair. Their cart sat on the opposite side of the road. Two of the large lizard-like oxen grazed on the sparse vegetation nearby, tethered to the other side of the cart. The fourth figure was up on the broken tower, perched atop a rounded stone.

  Galileo — or was is Copernicus? I always mixed them up — brayed loudly at one of the lizards. I tensed up but kept playing, hoping the strengthened Tetsu would cover up the sound of the donkey. I poured a little bit of mana into the performance, strengthening it.

  “Oy, did you hear something?” One of the armored men by the fire lifted his longsword and stood, unsheathing it and looking around. “Swore I just heard a donkey or sommat.”

  lot of mountain pass ventures. Seriously. Its a long mountain pass. Prepare yourself. Shenanigans to ensue!