Deciding to go see what was up with the fires with or without my party I left with Dekka to traipse though the woods. I had spent a few hours trying to find a road or a path up into the hills. The forest had gradually changed as we had trekked away from Bistmore. Here the trees were smaller, both shorter and narrower of trunk. The ground was choked with underbrush, much of it sharp and thorny. I didn't want to try bushwacking my way through but best I could do were animal tracks.

  The problem with animal tracks is that they wound around, their purpose elusive. The goals of it's makers not one of simply going from point A to point B. Thankfully there were many animal tracks. Some were clear and well travelled, a veritable woodland highway, others were barely there and at times I wondered if I was following a path at all.

  More often than not, not matter how well defined they would just end as if all the animals travelling along the route had all decided that was far enough and diverged, off to attend to their own particular animal business.

  Dekka was the best scout once I had explained to her the concept of direction. She was excellent at keeping us headed in the correct general direction, without her I would have gotten lost or turned in circles. She kept stopping and glaring at me, annoyed I wasn’t as fast in the brush than she was. Which wasn’t fair. She was as unusually small as I was large. Dekka could scoot along under all the leaves and thorns while I had to make my way through bushes that seemed determined to fight me every step of the way.

  Eventually the slope got steeper as we made our way into the hills. The soil became more rocky and it was fortunate that the underbrush started to thin or I might have changed my mind on trying to head straight to the source of the fires. As it was I was sweating heavily from the heat of the day and the climb. Deciding I could use a rest and stopped to take a break for water and a snack. Dekka gave a little half sneeze of disapproval until I pulled out some of the roast haunch from the night before. Then she was all tail wiggles and happiness having changed her mind on the suitability of taking breaks.

  I tossed her another bit of meat and wondered why she had picked sneezing as her way of expressing herself. It was adorable, and it was absolutely quieter than her bark. Would this game ever give her a voice? If she ever gained the ability to talk I would have much to ask her. I looked down at her. Her little face was looking up at me, her tail wagging in a way that was clearly but politely asking for more meat. While taking the last bit of meat, I told her to sit. She glared at me and then slowly sat.

  I don’t know if her talking would be a good idea. I would bet my last gold coin she would swear more than I and likely say the quiet things out loud.

  The columns of smoke grew more noticeable as we continued. Still they remained father than I had thought. Scale was difficult to determine out here. I could see the mountains, their white snow covered tops standing out against the incredibly clear blue sky. They looked so close as if I could touch them, but I hadn’t gotten any closer to them all day.

  Thankfully the fires looked to be in the foothills well before the mountains. The trees thinned out all together but the rocks got worse—slick patches of moss, jutting edges camouflaged with lichen. I slipped more than once, catching myself after I slid a few feet.

  Dekka was fine, having no problem at all with the terrain. She kept bounding ahead, then circling back, ears to the side and tongue hanging out laughing at me. The way she looked at me made it very clear that I, and my inferior number of legs, were the reason we weren't making decent progress.

  The smell of smoke was stronger now. The smell was definitely burning wood -- a camp fire smell hitting me a wave of nostalgia reminding me of camping with my family.

  But I also smelled food cooking, real food. That explained my dog’s hurry she loved human food. My mouth started watering and I put extra effort into climbing, what I hoped was the last, scree. The tantalising smells of things roasting other than beast haunch was driving me crazy.

  I could hear something, too—low voices? Metal clinking? Was this the army? Or scouts at least. I was pretty sure an army would have more campfires. Regardless I was eager to see new people.

  The last bit was a near vertical climb over a jumble of rocks. There was natural wall that rose up and stretched out as far as I could see. An escarpment. More memories, this time of when Rodney had surprised me with a picnic on top of an escarpment. I shook my head. I would only make myself sad. Or mad. Or worse, both.

  I had to lift Dekka up in a few spots. But she managed to crest the top a good minute before me and I worried she would get into mischief as I had removed her bow. Ayerelia had been right it was starting to smell. Even in protected inside her hellhound shadow shell bits of gore had landed on the fabric.

  Huffing and puffing I pulled my up over the edge. The voices all stopped and all eyes looked my way.

  I brushed the dirt from my clothes as much to let me catch my breath than from any sort of sartorial concern.

  Looking up I took in the scene. Tents. Campfires. Not an army. Their was no sameness to them, no uniformity let alone a uniform. Players. I exhaled a half chuckle, I had come all this way just to find a backwoods tailgate party.

  A couple dozen people, maybe more, were scattered in loose groups around the top of the top of the escarpment. Someone had set up a spit over one fire, and there was the typical haunch roasting. But there was a grill of sorts and slices of… vegtables? And there was a pot of something bubbling. It all smelled delicious.

  I took a step closer trying to see what food there was when one of the players pointed a spear in my direction.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Stop!” the man said. His voice was a bit hesitant and the sharp tip of the spear quivered slightly.

  I held still. A few others slowly drew their weapons.

  “We, ah, we don’t want any violence” He said his hands taking a firmer grip on his spear.

  “Please don’t hurt us.” Said a voice in the back.

  Hurt them?

  I looked at the dozen or so men, and a few women, squinting up at me. Many of them armed. They looked.. Frightened. Of me? Then I noticed how small they looked. How ‘down’ I had to look to look at them. Shit how tall was I now? I had to be getting close to seven feet.

  They were squinting because the sun was low behind my back. To them a huge barbarian woman had just climbed a cliff and showed up uninvited in their camp. I bet the bear mantle was doing nothing to make me look less intimidating.

  Could I just tell them I was friendly? Would they believe me? Where was my dog? These were players, an adorable tiny dog should help my case.

  “Hey now, there’s no need to be pointing weapons.” I said keeping my voice really calm.

  As I feared they weren’t convinced. I mean I wasn’t sure I would be in this game either.

  “Have you seen my dog?” I asked the spear holder.

  “You stay - a what?” This clearly caught him off guard. Which had been my plan.

  “My dog. She is small, mostly white.” I did my best to look unthreateningly inquisitive.

  The spear guy risked a look over his shoulder at the others. More were gathering.

  “This game doesn’t have dogs.” A halfling woman said as she walked up to join the spear holder. She looked less afraid, just wary.

  As if on cue Dekka came trotting past. Ignoring our little stand off, nose to the ground following some very interesting smell.

  None of the gathered people were looking at me now. All eyes were on the terrier. She stopped to scratch her ear then noticing the attention looked around with a “What!?” expression on her face.

  “Oh there she is.” I said. “The game has at least one dog.” I said calmly like the incontrovertible fact that it was.

  “Uh Gareth?” The halfling woman said.

  “Yeah?” The spearman replied.

  “That dog has only two eyes.”

  The spearman lowered his spear and the crowd shuffled around unsure what to do now.

  A very male, possibly drunk — though not sure how that worked in game— voice called out. “Deathsh by snu snu” followed be snorts and peals of laughter. Possibly from the same person.

  “I am going to stab him” Said a man with an Australian accent who had been watching with more calm than most. I saw his hand was resting on a dagger at this belt as he turned back towards the camp. Not that I knew what snu snu meant exactly I could guess it was lewd.

  “I won’t stand in your way,” sighed the halfling. She came up to me. “Hello, my name is Rositilda, but you can call me Rose.” She held out her tiny hand. I shook it very gently. Her entire hand was lost in my massive grip.

  “Elizabeth,” I said and then nodded at my dog who was staying close as if she was waiting for introductions, “This is Dekka.”

  “I can’t say I have seen any other jack russel terriers in this game. I didn’t even know we could have pets.” The halfling stooped and began petting Dekka on the head, her hand gliding over her fur and fingers giving a little scratch at the ruff of her neck. Rose had made an instant friend. Dekka loved any human, or halfling who knew just the right speed and pressure with to give homage to her illustrious self.

  “As far as I know she is the only one. The only companion in game.”

  She looked up in surprise her hand stopping. Which cause Dekka to give her a firm poke in the palm with her nose. “How did you manage that.”

  “It’s a long story. A very long story.” It wasn’t just how I got the dog, but how I was stuck, how my dog had died. How I had broken down in that storm, weather that players didn’t see, and had somehow tricked the system into giving me. I shrugged.

  After deciding I wasn’t going to be telling any of that long story she stood up. “Do you want dinner?”

  I smiled widely. “Do I ever.”

  I was given a bowl and we stood in line where Rose introduced to people, the names of whom I almost immediately forgot. There were just too many of them.. Everyone was curious about me. This was too big to be a party and so I was curious in return. This gathering seemed to be comprised of all players. No NPCs judging by the clothing.

  “So you just saw our fires and walked over? From way over by that river?” A tall lanky elf was asking as we waited our turn. His name was Trenwyth. “Yup. My party is having scheduling issues so I decided to do some exploring on my own.” I explained.

  There was a susurration of murmured understanding. “That is the hardest thing in a game,” the elf grabbed a fresh bread roll and then stepped aside letting me grab one too. “So many parties split up because they can’t find the time all at the same time.”

  “We haven’t broken up.” I said hastily, then wondered if that was wishful thinking or the truth. “One of our members is younger, and she’s grounded.”

  “Kids,” he said and shook his head.

  I took a big helping of the roast vegetables but passed on the porridge looking stuff in the cauldron. I took some meat with extra for Dekka. Dinner smelled amazing and I looked around for a place to sit so I could devour it. I found Rose sitting alone and asked if I could sit with her.

  “Sure, as long as you promise to answer some questions.” But she said it with a friendly smile.

  “That’s fair. And you need to answer some too.”

  I explained my party, the terrible escort quest and the walk here. Turned out nearly everyone here had done an escort quest.

  “The way this game gets around having to generate stories for each player is that there are intersections in all our narratives. Did you know that?”

  “No, I had no idea.” I said. This food was amazing.

  “The main quest leads to the Capital City. A few players are further along, the early beta ones.”

  “To get that quest you first need to meet up with the Crown prince and do him a favour. And in order to meet him you need to be given a ring or a seal. And in order to do that you need to do an escort quest. Or join a party that already had one.”

  “That quest was the worst.” Saying as few words as possible so I wouldn’t be tempted to talk with my mouth full.

  Rose groaned. “They really are, regardless of game. Though we managed to escort out noble the first time.”

  “A noble?” I said chewing quickly. “Ours was a Justicar. We went through two before we succeeded on the third.”

  “Ouch that’s rough. One party was telling us that they had to escort a shepherd and a small flock of sheep. And all of the sheep had to arrive safely.“ I almost choked laughing at the image. Dekka would have loved herding the sheep. I was glad we hadn’t had that one.

  “How many sheep did they go through?”

  “Many but I didn’t ask for an exact answer.”

  “How did yours go?” I passed Dekka the last bit of my roast.

  “We put the person in a wagon and we took turn in pairs pulling it. When they kept trying to wander off we tied them in the wagon.” Rose laughed describing it, “He was hopping mad when we got there, but get there we did.”

  It was funny on the surface, but it was less amusing when you thought of the NPC as a person who got tied up and tossed in a wagon in the middle of some forest by a group of strangers.

  “So why are you all here?” I asked to change the subject. “Is the Prince’s army near?”

  She gave me a grin. “No not the army. We are waiting.”

  “Waiting?” I looked around. “For what?”

  “Do you know what a World Event is?”