The sun was out, the sky above them was blue, and the green grass was finally beginning to return. All three of them had been eager to get out of the Lonely Plains as quickly as they could – so as soon as they collected their rewards from Baldemir, they started their journey east towards the Town of Crossings. After a day and a half of walking, they were beginning to get to the parts of the land where the sun actually shone, animals could be seen running about, and the plants grew in abundance.

  ‘Let’s test it, shall we?’ Nixie suggested.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The counterspell. Should we test it to see how it goes?’

  The three of them had each received the promised counterspell scroll from Baldemir, and learnt the spell almost as soon as they did. They were also offered exp for a skill of their choice. Although neither Aquila or Slie had invested any points into manna, and their combat magic was still at level 1, they both thought that it would still be a useful spell to have handy. The spell description was simple: Counterspell. Cast this spell against another for the chance to nullify its effects.

  ‘How are we going to do that?’ Aquila asked.

  ‘Easy.’

  Nixie began fiddling with her interface. A moment later a large exclamation mark appeared in front of both Aquila and Slie.

  Nixie has turned on PvP for party members.

  ‘I’ll cast the only combat spell I know, wind blast, against you; and you see if you can counter it.’

  ‘Umm, okay,’ Aquila said, equipping the counterspell. His right hand started shining blue.

  Slie fell back against the soft grass, and crossed his legs.

  ‘Then I’m going to enjoy the show.’

  Nixie lifted her hands in the air.

  ‘You ready?’ she called.

  ‘Yep! Hit me,’

  Nixie swung her hand out in a sideways arc, and a large gust of wind followed. It was an odd thing to see, Aquila thought as he watched the spell being cast. Wind wasn’t normally visible; but whenever he’d seen the wind blast spell being cast – the wind always manifested as white streaks flying through the air. He supposed that whoever designed the game, didn’t want an invisible attack existing. Aquila through his own spell at the incoming wind. It drained his manna bar completely, and then a text appeared in front of him: counterspell failed.

  Then the wind blast spell hit him – drawing 3hp from his health bar and knocking him down to the ground. Slie burst into laughter, and Nixie couldn’t help but join him. Eventually a smile appeared over Aquila’s face, and he too couldn’t help but laugh.

  ‘Are you okay,’ Nixie said running through the luscious field and jumping down on to the grass next to him. Slie also began to approach them slowly.

  Aquila nodded.

  ‘Yep. The spell failed though.’

  ‘That was obvious enough,’ Slie said plonking down next to Aquila.

  ‘Spells can sometimes fail. Let’s just hope that when the time comes that we need it to work the most, it actually does,’ Nixie said.

  A gentle breeze blew through, ruffling Aquila’s hair and taking with it a few puffs of white dandelion. They’d stopped in a field full of colourful flowers, not too far from the road, next to a few trees and a small pool of water.

  ‘Here,’ Nixie held out a bowl of fruit with cream and honey for him to take, ‘no need to be careful with what we have anymore.’

  ‘We’re not far from The Town of Crossings. We can easily buy more supplies with all the money we picked up from those spiders.’

  ‘And after The Town of Crossings?’ Aquila said, ‘where are we heading from there.’

  ‘Well,’ Nixie handed another bowl of fruit, cream and honey to Slie, then pulled on out for herself, ‘I was thinking that maybe we could go to Ambrosiana. We could ask Bega if he’s got any information about your friends.’

  Aquila’s eyes lit of up slightly.

  ‘Do you think he’d know where they are?’ Aquila asked with a hopeful voice.

  ‘I’m not sure. And I can’t make any promises either. But chances are, even if he doesn’t know. He’ll be able to point us in the direction of someone who does,’ said Nixie, ‘I know you wanted to head East after this Slie and see what’s out there but…’ Nixie trailed off.

  They both looked over at Slie, Aquila with pleading eyes. Slie shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘I don’t see why we can’t head to Ambrosiana,’ Slie said before he stuck a spoonful of fruit and honey in his mouth.

  ‘That settles it. We’ll go to The Town of Crossings, stock up on supplies, and from there we’re off to Ambrosiana.’

  ***

  It was a three day journey from The Town of Crossings to Ambrosiana; they followed a road that snaked across large fields, and continued through a green forest, then around a large lake (much larger than the one near Novus Town), before the terrain around began to rise fall as the road ascended and descended small hills, that were steadily growing larger; and this was where they left the PvP zone.

  Ambrosiana was built upon a large hill, with a river flowing around it, and was clearly visible well before they got to the actual city itself. From a distance, it was a grand looking city – an outline of towers, and huge buildings with large walls against the blue sky.

  There were many players travelling the same road, and many more were joining the road the closer they got to the city; either players wandering in from the forest and fields, of from one of the many side roads that split off from the main road. They were lucky they didn’t run into trouble, but oddly enough, as Nixie pointed out, there was less chance of getting preyed upon by people killers on busy roads. A bear did jump out from the foliage in the forest, and it was quite a high level too, but about ten players began attacking it at once as soon as it appeared, and it didn’t last long. Slie himself barely had time to get his bow out and let off an arrow – which he claimed didn’t even hit the bear before it died anyway.

  Ambrosiana looked big from a distance, but it was even bigger when they got closer. With tall cobblestone walls, and watchtowers, as well as guards in beautiful silver armour patrolling the enormous gates that served as the entrance. The streets were extremely large and bustling with both players and NPCs. There were stalls along the sides of the streets, in front of houses and shops that were part of buildings that rose several stories high.

  ‘Jed is out killing forest sprites; we’re going to go join him,’ Aquila heard one player call out as they ran past. Several players followed him.

  ‘You got any health potions,’ someone else asked.

  They passed a shady looking man, with a green cloak and his face hiding under the cowl. Aquila must have looked at the player for a little too long, because he stepped towards Aquila and placed a hand on his shoulder.

  ‘Hello little elf. Would you like to hear about some rare quests,’ the player said, ‘I can tell you all about them. Or if you need to know about anything else – well, I can probably you help you out for just a little bit of coin.’

  Slie stepped in between the player and Aquila.

  ‘He’s okay,’ Slie said while Nixie took Aquila by the hand and dragged him away.

  ‘Oh don’t be like that!’ the man said after them as they walked off.

  ‘You need to be careful who you trust in this city,’ Slie said when the man was out of earshot (which didn’t take long considering how many people there were in the city), ‘there are a lot of people who want to scam you for your money.’

  ‘It took us quite a long time to trust Bega,’ said Nixie as she guided him through the main street.

  ‘In fact, I’m not too sure I still trust him. Not a hundred percent at least.’

  ‘Why not?’ Aquila asked, ‘he hasn’t lied yet, has he? The counterspell quest turned out to be legitimate, didn’t it?’

  Aquila secretly hoped that he was going to be legit. Especially if he was supposed to get him information about Alister and Sophia.

  ‘Yes,’ Slie said as he dodged around a player who’d awkward turned to the side in a sudden moment, ‘but it’s always good to be wary of the people who are just out for money. You never know when the tables will turn.’

  ‘Don’t listen to him,’ Nixie said, ‘Bega’s okay. Common, we’ll take you to our favourite place for drinks. We have cause to celebrate after all.’

  The city was even livelier the further in they went. There were players chatting in groups, clans seemed to be running around together, they came to a spot that was crowded with people buying and selling different items. Aquila’s ears were bombarded with different voices.

  ‘Selling dragon wood. Dragon wood. Fifteen gold a piece. Good for crafting bows.’

  ‘Looking for an enchanted fortentine sword. Paying a thousand gold.’

  ‘Cooked salmon. 30 gold each. Cooked salmon!’

  ‘He scammed me! You better watch yourself when you leave the Safe Zone.’

  Aquila even saw a few players begging for money.

  ‘Gold please. Can anyone spare some gold?’ though nobody seemed to be paying them any attention.

  They passed different kinds of shops; ones that sold fishing equipment, home decorations, herbs and spices for cooking and there were even banks (something that Aquila didn’t even know existed in the game). They rounded a few side streets, which weren’t as crowded, but still had players wandering back and forth. Those parts still had buildings that towered up around them, though most of them looked to housing (either player owned or simply for aesthetic purposes, Aquila didn’t really know). There were also a few smaller pubs, as well as some cute little cafes that had large windows with colourful flowers on the sills, as well as umbrellas, tables and chairs in the street.

  ‘It’s just up here,’ Nixie pointed to the street corner opposite them. It was a smaller place though it still seemed to be popular. There were long wooden tables out the front, with players laughing and drinking. The sign above the door read: The Dancing Faun. ‘I’ve already messaged Bega. He’s out at the moment, but he said he can meet us there in about an hour.’

  ‘Until then,’ Slie said, ‘I suppose we just enjoy a few pints.’

  As they made their way towards the small little inn, Aquila noticed something flash in the corner of his eye. It was a deep blue name tag of a player that stood out among the other name tags that floated around him. Roselyn. Aquila stopped.

  ‘Hey, umm – is it okay if I meet you in there,’ Aquila said, ‘I’ll only be a few minutes…’

  Nixie looked at him sidelong.

  ‘Everything okay?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Aquila smiled, ‘I’ve just noticed the nametag of someone I used to trade with in Novus Town.’

  ‘Okay then,’ Slie said walking off towards the inn, ‘want us to order you something?’

  ‘Yeah. Just get me whatever you’re having,’ he called to Slie.

  ‘You don’t want what I’m having,’ Slie called back.

  Nixie pulled him away.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  ‘We’ll order you something normal, don’t worry!’ Nixie smiled and then they disappeared through the doors of the inn. Roselyn’s tag was still floating in the distance.

  ***

  ‘Roselyn,’ Aquila called.

  The small fae girl had her back to him; she seemed to be talking with a group of other players. Her bright pink hair fell about her shoulders thick enough so that it was all Aquila could see. She turned around at the call of her name, and looked at Aquila. She looked at him awkwardly, as though he were a stranger for a moment, but then her eyes lit up as she began to recognise him.

  ‘Aquila!’ Roselyn pulled him into a tight embrace, then placed a gentle hand on each of his shoulders, ‘you made it!’

  Her friends, a group of players made up of a variety of races, elves, half-elves, humans, fae, and orcs; looked over curiously at them for a moment, but for the most part they continued their own conversation. One player wolf whistled though, and called out to them.

  ‘Roselyn. Who’s that, your boyfriend?’

  Roselyn turned around.

  ‘Shut up Kai,’ she said before turning back to Aquila, ‘don’t mind them; this is just my new clan. Good to see you got here okay!’

  ‘And you also got here okay,’ Aquila said.

  ‘Well…not exactly.’

  ‘The convey turned on you?’

  ‘Nope. We got attacked by a group of bears on the way. The convey led us on along a weird path. Certainly not the main road. They stuck true to their word, though, and defended us. But three players died. It was quite sad; but I got here in the end. And now I’m part of a small little merchant’s clan,’ Roselyn gestured to her friends behind her.

  ‘You’ve also got different coloured hair? I distinctly remember it being silver!’

  Roslyn combed her fingers through her hair casually.

  ‘There’s a hairdresser in Ambrosiana’s eastern district. Do you like it?’

  ‘Yeah. It’s nice.’

  ‘Enough about me,’ Roselyn punched him gently in the shoulder, ‘when did you decide to leave Novus Town. And have you still been playing this game all on your very own. You know it’s dangerous out there!’

  Aquila chuckled.

  ‘I left a couple of days after you did actually. And no. I made a few friends on the way. They’re actually waiting for me at the Dancing Faun. Come and join us for some drinks if you like?’

  ‘Not your friends you joined the game with?’ Roselyn asked.

  Aquila’s face dropped.

  ‘Unfortunately…not. I’m still looking for them though – these guys are great too!’

  Roselyn rubbed his black hair affectionately.

  ‘You’ll find them… eventually… how long have you been in Ambrosiana, anyway?’

  ‘We only just got in today,’ Aquila said.

  ‘Today! It took you two weeks to get here?’

  ‘Not quite. We, ahh, did some other stuff first. Quests and what not.’

  Roselyn began looking him up and down, examining him a little closer.

  ‘Oh…right,’ she brushed his arm, ‘level 9 now are we. You’ve levelled up since I last saw you.’

  Aquila rubbed the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.

  ‘Yeah, you could say that.’

  A small, half-elf girl tapped Roselyn on the shoulder.

  ‘We’re heading to the corner on Westside Street. You coming?’

  ‘Oh, right,’ she turned back to Aquila, ‘I gotta go! But hey – I’ll pop by The Dancing Faun a little later to see if you’re still there. We can catch up and I can meet your friends. Also, have this; it’s one of my specialties now.’

  Roselyn pulled up a trade window and offered a large pink cake. Aquila accepted and the food item appeared in his inventory.

  ‘Not only is it delicious, but it will restore 30hp and raise your defence by 2 for three hours. It’s the perks of cooking food when you get to my level. Anyway, I’ll message you when I’m done in the Western district,’ Roselyn waved and ran off after her friends.

  ‘Thanks!’ Aquila called back after her.

  ***

  The Dancing Faun was small but cosy, with red carpet, seating against a window, and spiralling stairs that led to a second platform with more seating that overlooked the bar. Nixie and Slie were sitting in a booth against a window with two other players.

  ‘Here he is!’ Slie called as soon as Aquila walked in. Nixie waved him over. There was a spare seat, and a large glass or what looked like apple juice on the table which he could only assume was his.

  ‘This is Whitewing, and Oblivion,’ Nixie said gesturing to the two male half-bloods that sat at the end of the table, ‘this is Aquila, our new friend we were telling you about.’

  ‘Good to see you finally got someone in your party who can stand on the front lines. You probably weren’t going to last much longer out there without one,’ said Oblivion.

  ‘Yeah – a healer and a guy who goes invisible. Doesn’t work very well. But you get someone who can tank damage…or an elf who can dodge attacks. Then you have a good team,’ Whitewing added, ‘as long as you got someone to draw the enemies away from you two.’

  ‘Good to hear you had faith in us,’ Slie said.

  ‘It’s not about faith; it’s just how the game works,’ Oblivion said.

  Nixie turned to Aquila.

  ‘Whitewing and Oblivion were giving us pretty good prices on potions while we were staying here,’ Nixie explained.

  ‘And if you ever need anything,’ Whitewing said.

  ‘You can always get in touch,’ Oblivion continued.

  ‘We do potions, smithing and enchanting. But we know other people too. Crafters, cooks, fisherman, fletchers. If we can’t do it, we probably know someone who can.’

  ‘And what do you get out of it, by sending me to someone else for business?’ Aquila asked.

  ‘Those of us who specialise in skills that aren’t as combat heavy look out for each other. I send someone to a fletcher who needs new arrows. The fletcher sends someone who needs potions to me.’

  ‘We were calling ourselves merchants, but apparently that’s a different thing.’

  ‘What’s the difference?’ Nixie asked.

  ‘Merchants have a high charisma level!’ Whitewing said.

  ‘Charisma? That’s not a skill… is it?’ Aquila remarked.

  ‘Not an official one. No. It’s just our way of saying; they’re good at talking. They buy cheap items and sell them fore more money,’ Oblivion said.

  ‘And they make quite a bit of it too. They’re the richest people in this city at the moment,’ said Whitewing, ‘anyway; word on the street is that you guys visited The Lonely Plains?’

  ‘Who told you that?!’ Slie looked surprised.

  ‘Bega. Who else,’ said Oblivion.

  ‘It’s true. We went to the Lonely Plains. For a small quest. It was a horrible place. The cities in the Lonely plains aren’t even safe zones,’ Nixie said.

  Oblivion laughed.

  ‘You know players are exploring more and more of this land right. This is barely a drop in the cup of the world we’re in, Novus Town, The Town of Crossings, Asphodel and Ambrosiana.’

  ‘We haven’t even been to Asphodel, Oblivion,’ Whitewing added.

  ‘That’s true, and I doubt we ever will. Well I won’t anyway.’

  ‘What are you trying to tell us?’ Slie asked.

  ‘The Lonely Plains are just beginning. The warm up. Players have recently discovered area called Tartarus that’s much worse than the Lonely Plains.’

  ‘What else did you expect?’ Aquila said.

  The four players turned to look at Aquila with questioning eyes.

  ‘It’s so close to Novus Town. Have you ever heard of an RPG putting the most dangerous areas next to the town where players begin?’

  ‘He has a point,’ said Whitewing.

  ‘Brains and brawn,’ said Oblivion.

  ‘Well,’ Aquila shrugged his shoulders, ‘hardly brawn.’

  ‘Do you know,’ Slie started, ‘if anyone has reached the edge of the world?’

  Whitewing shook his head.

  ‘Not that we’ve heard of. And I’m sure if it happened then it would be the talk of the town.’

  ‘As we said earlier; what we’ve explored so far is just a drop in the cup. This world is grand,’ Oblivion said with a thick Irish accent.

  Slie scratched his chin pensively.

  ‘So where to from here?’ Whitewing asked.

  ‘Aquila’s searching for some friends; ones he knew in real life… we’re hoping Bega might have some information about where to find them.’

  ‘You’re not the only one,’ Oblivion said.

  ‘We got lucky. Most people didn’t find the friends they came with in The Town of Crossings.’

  ‘You two knew each other in real life?’ Aquila asked.

  ‘We’re actually twins,’ said Oblivion.

  ‘If anyone will be able to help you – it will be Bega. He’s one of the few information sellers you can actually trust.’

  ‘In the meantime though, you should try doing a raid. There are a few low levelled ones around here.’

  ‘A raid?’ Slie asked.

  ‘It’s a recently discovered thing. Bega will tell you all about them though. We got go.’

  ‘Got a buyer to meet.’

  ‘Was great to meet you Aquila.’

  ‘And good luck with everything.’

  The two half-bloods rose up from their seats and slid past them, gave a quick should out to the bartender and then slipped out the door, leaving the three of them alone.

  ‘A raid… what do you guys think?’ Slie rose his eyebrows and gave them each a little smirk.

  ‘Why don’t we speak to Bega first, about, you know, Aquila’s friends.’

  ‘I’d love to do one, you know, before I go to find them…on my own… or… you guys could come with me.’

  ‘I personally would love to meet you friends,’ said Nixie smiled, ‘but let’s see what information Bega has before we make any decisions.’

  ‘Oh, and speaking of Bega,’ Slie started fiddling with his interface, ‘I just got a message from him. He’s on his way now. He wants to meet us up on the balcony.’

  Nixie jumped out of her seat.

  ‘The balcony is absolutely beautiful. You’ll love it up there Aquila,’ Nixie grabbed Aquila by the arm and pulled him out of his seat, leading him towards the spiralling stairs. Slie followed closely behind them.

  ***

  Upon the platform that overlooked the bar, there was a door. The door led to another set of stairs which rose a whole flight and then opened up onto a balcony with large railing. Ambrosiana itself was built on a hill, but the east side was higher than the west side, which meant they not only had a view of the whole city before them, but they also had a view of the valley beyond – the fields, the trees, the large river.

  ‘This is beautiful,’ Aquila remarked as soon as they stepped outside and he was able to take it all in. The balcony itself was cosy. There were several tables lined up, and quite a few players up her chatting with friends. Fortunately they found a free seat by the railing. They sat around, chatting and admiring the view for a few minutes, before a seemingly random player sat down in an empty seat next to them. It was a man, with blonde hair, and a player tag that read Began_Yesterday.

  ‘Bega!’ Slie said, ‘you actually pulled through. With the counterspell thing I mean.’

  ‘Good to see you Bega,’ said Nixie.

  ‘And you,’ Bega said with quite a proper accent, ‘I’m glad to hear that you managed to find the counterspell okay. I must admit, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure myself if it was true. But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell many people about it. It’s not really common knowledge, and well, when something isn’t common knowledge, I can sell it for a bit more money, if you know what I mean.’ Bega winked.

  ‘Wait! You mean to tell me – we were your guinea pigs?’

  ‘In a sense. Yes. But if you weren’t the guinea pigs, I can guarantee you that you wouldn’t have been able to afford it that information. Let’s face it – five coins for a counterspell that nobody knows about; you got a pretty good deal.’

  ‘Hmm, I suppose so…’ Slie agreed.

  ‘Now that I know it’s not just a rumour, the next person I speak to about it won’t be paying anything less than a hundred. No wait. Two hundred. I could potentially hustle a little bit more; once players start levelling up and making more money. As long as it stays a secret that is. Anyway – enough about that. You wanted to see me about something?’

  ‘Umm, yes,’ Nixie said, ‘Aquila joined the game with a few friends and - ’

  ‘he hasn’t been able to find them. You want information about them?’ Bega looked directly at Aquila, clearly this question was for him.

  ‘Yes!’ Aquila said, ‘any information.’

  Bega nodded at him – clearly he’d had this request before. Nixie and Slie sat in anticipation.

  ‘I’ll pay anything for it too,’ Aquila added, ‘even if I have to be indebted to you.’

  ‘There’s no such thing as being indebted in my business. The guards around here will arrest people who break into houses at night, but they won’t do squat to players who promise to pay someone back and don’t.’

  Bega looked out over the balcony; gesturing to the city, and the fields, and trees beyond.

  ‘It’s a big world; they could be anywhere. How do you know they aren’t dead?’

  Slie looked away; Nixie took Aquila’s arm, but Aquila himself answered confidently.

  ‘It is something I think about.’

  Bega scratched his chin, as if he was still in the middle of deciding what to do.

  ‘What do they look like?’

  ‘Alister has bright red hair. And freckles. Always up to some kind of mischief. He’s a little taller than me. Sofia is the opposite. Black hair, black eyes, and she usually stays out of trouble. They might be together or they might be separate. I don’t really know.’

  ‘So far there hasn’t been any way to alter facial appearances in the game, as well as height, apart from temporary spells, but they wear off over time. Unfortunately though, hair colour can be altered – and depending on the race they selected, their eye colour could be altered too,’ Bega spoke as if he had more knowledge of the game than most, ‘unfortunately hair and eye colour isn’t enough to go on. Do they have anything that defines them. Any marks?’

  ‘Alister had a small birthmark on his neck, kind of in the shape of a circle – but in a way it’s more like a blob. He had a long nose, smaller lips and a sharp looking face. Sophia’s face was flawless. She had darker skin, and was a little shorter than me.’

  Bega looked at out over the city in silence. The ambience of the people talking and drinking around them on the pub balcony, as well as the distant sounds of the people going about their business in the city were all that they could hear for a while. The silence between them dragged to the point where Aquila was wondering if Bega was going to answer him at all. Eventually he spoke without breaking away from the view.

  ‘I can’t make any promises. And I’ll need a few days.’

  ‘Sure,’ Aquila said, ‘and how much do you want?’

  ‘I don’t charge people for information I don’t have. Let me talk to some people. If something comes up, I’ll give you a price. If not, then you don’t owe me anything.’

  ‘That sounds fair,’ Aquila agreed. Nixie squeezed his arm gently, hoping to lift his spirits. It was hard for her to tell if Aquila was happy with the outcome of the conversation, or anxious. Aquila wasn’t done speaking though. ‘In the meantime, tell us about these boss raids.’

  Bega’s mouth curved up into a grin.

  ‘You’re interested in doing some raids, hey?’

  Slie ruffled Aquila’s hair.

  ‘We’re interested in doing some raids!’ Slie corrected.

  ‘Maybe we should find out what they are; before we actually decide to commit to anything,’ Nixie said.

  ‘Raids are the new craze at the moment. The first one was discovered about a week ago, and new ones are popping up daily. They’re essentially boss battles. One room dungeons if you will, with a high level monster, though some raids are easier than others. They usually drop pretty good loot though.’

  ‘And do you know where any of these raids are?’ Slie asked.

  ‘Who do you take me for?’ Bega crossed his arms, ‘I’ll tell you what, I know a fairly good raid quite close to here, that would suit your level. The loot you’ll get will blow you away. I’ll tell you exactly where it is if you give me some more details about the counterspell quest in Asphodel. The more I know about it, the more I can confidently charge.’

  ‘Fine!’ Slie said, ‘what do you want to know?’

  ***

  That night Aquila, Nixie and Slie found a cheap room with three beds in an inn on the Western district of Ambrosiana. It was a place that was catered to travelling parties and clans, so the inn could accommodate any number of people in a single room.

  In the end, Bega had told them about a raid in the middle of the forest just out of Ambrosiana.

  ‘It’s just outside of the safe zone; so be careful,’ he’d told them.

  They spent the rest of the day stocking up on supplies, as well as visiting some of Slie’s favourite inns, and Nixie’s favourite cafes. Not only did they want to show Aquila around Ambrosiana, but they also felt like they had cause to relax and let their hair down a little. They also met up with two other acquaintances and Roselyn even joined them before the night finished.

  But after they’d had their fill to eat and drink; and conversed late into the night, they decided to retire to their room. The three of them sat on their beds, laying back and looking up at the roof of the inn. They hadn’t made any solid plans for the days to come – though the idea of the raid had been loosely agreed upon.

  ‘What time are we leaving tomorrow?’ Aquila asked.

  ‘We already have enough supplies; we could probably leave as early as we want to,’ Slie said.

  ‘Or as late as we want,’ Nixie added, ‘are we actually doing this. The raid I mean?’

  ‘I don’t see why not. Aquila certainly wants to.’

  ‘I just think it’s a smart move,’ Aquila said, ‘we made a little bit of money in the Lonely Plains, but not enough to buy as any solid equipment. Bega said this raid isn’t too hard; and as fun as today was – if we keep idle, we’ll just fall further behind everyone else in terms of levels.’

  ‘Says the guy who spent three weeks cowering in Novus Town. But I do agree. Nixie?’

  ‘Fine,’ she said, ‘but we get breakfast at the Red Flower Café before we go. I love their eggs.’

  ‘Deal,’ Aquila said.

  ‘That settles it. We get breakfast tomorrow and then we leave for the raid afterwards. For now let’s get some sleep.’