Mark of the Hero 1 by C. Wintertide

Author:C. Wintertide [Wintertide, C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LitRPG
Publisher: Many Realms Publishing Company
Published: 2018-11-01T06:00:00+00:00

15

THE DRUNKEN DWARF INN

The three of them strode down Lethbridge’s cobblestoned main street. Even though the streets were crowded—it appeared that everyone from the surrounding area had crammed behind the walls—they all parted before them like the Red Sea for Moses, because of Alicia. Fear skittered across the faces of the NPCs—none of which were duplicates, Luke noted—and they drew back so that he, Christopher, and Alicia had more than enough room to pass by.

“Whatever is happening in this area must be truly terrible to make them all crowd in here,” Christopher remarked as he glanced around at the people. “They’ve brought in the livestock, too!”

“Even that incompetent guardsman is afraid,” Alicia grunted. “But it is not our problem. We need to find a way out of here. That is all.”

Even though Luke had told himself that same thing every time he had seen something interesting in Neverfall, it annoyed him when she said it. Maybe because it was dismissing people’s fear rather than simply interesting aspects of the world.

But they aren’t real. A little girl with brown pigtails, holding onto her mother’s hand, looked up at him with wide, haunted eyes. She was clutching a dirty, ripped doll in her other hand, likely her only possession. Even if they look like they are.

“What do we do if there isn’t anyone else in the inn?” Christopher asked.

“Then we keep looking,” Luke said. “But one step at a time. It’s too overwhelming otherwise.”

“You’re right, of course. It’s just…” Christopher licked his lips. “I’m feeling a bit like the people all around us: full of dread.”

Luke clapped his shoulder. “It’s going to be alright.”

“Do you actually believe that?” Alicia’s right eyebrow was raised.

“I have to, because believing anything else is self-defeating,” he answered her. “We just have to keep going and stay positive.” It was something his mother had said plenty of times when things kept getting darker and darker for them. He held onto it now.

She grunted and said nothing in response.

He overheard more conversation from the NPCs around them as they passed by. It was about the cause of their fear.

A man’s voice stated, “...extra guards have been posted--”

“The dead have never tried to seek out their victims in the city!” a woman cried.

“That was because they didn’t have to,” another woman sighed. “There were plenty of victims available in the outer farms. But now everyone is here.”

“How long will it be until they are at the gates?” the first woman whimpered. “The guards’ pikes won’t have any effect on ghosts! They’re not silver!”

“We need to enlist mages to defend us!” The man who said that looked pointedly at Luke. “Amalia over at the inn says she knows where a magical tome is hidden that will grant the mage a powerful spell against the undead.”

On Luke’s HUD, the quest flashed: Speak to Amalia at The Drunken Dwarf Inn.

“The Reeve should be seeking adventurers to help us!” the first man growled. “Where are our taxes going if not to pay for our security?”

Another quest flashed: Speak to Reeve Manon at the Reeve’s Manor.

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